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COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES  IN  ENGLISH 
.      AND  COMPARATIVE  LITERATURE 


LITERARY  INFLUENCES 
IN  COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

1704-1750 


COLUMBIA 

UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

SALES  AGENTS 

New  York: 

LEMCKE  &  BUECHNER 

30-32  West  27th  Street 

London : 
HENRY  FROWDE 

Amen  Corner,  E.C. 

Toronto : 

HENRY  FROWDE 

25  Richmond  Street,  W. 


LITERARY  INFLUENCES 
IN  COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

1704-1750 


BY 

ELIZABETH  CHRISTINE  COOK 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfilment  of  the  Requirements 

FOR  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  in  the 

Faculty  of  Philosophy,  Columbia  University 


NEW  YORK 
1912 


qi4 


Copyright,  1912 
By  Columbia  University  Press 

Printed  from  type,  December,  1912 


Press  of 

The  isew  era  Printing  Company 

Lancaster,  pa. 


This  Monograph  has  been  approved  hy  the  Department  of  Eng- 
lish and  Comparative  Literature  in  Columbia  University  as  a  con- 
tribution  to  knowledge  worthy  of  publication. 

A.  H.  THORNDIKE, 

Secretary. 


25440G 


TO 
MY  FATHER  AND  MY  MOTHER 


PEEFACE 


The  following  study  aims  to  give  a  fairly  com- 
prehensive survey  of  the  literary  contributions  in 
colonial  newspapers  from  1704  to  1750.  Aside 
from  the  well-known  essays  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
in  The  Netv  England  Courant  and  in  The  Penn- 
sylvania Gazette,  the  literary  material  in  the 
colonial  weeklies  has  been  hitherto  neglected. 
Especially  is  this  true  of  the  Southern  papers. 
Quotations  of  some  length  from  the  essays  and 
verse  published  in  colonial  journals  have  therefore 
been  considered  advisable  in  the  present  work.  In 
most  instances  the  originals  of  these  extracts  are 
accessible  only  in  the  collections  of  Historical 
Societies,  or  in  the  files  of  some  especially  favored 
library.  The  student  who  wishes  to  examine  The 
South  Carolina  Gazette,  for  example,  must  go  to 
the  Charleston  Library  Society  for  the  only  file 
known  to  be  extant. 

All  quotations  in  the  present  volume  follow 
literally  the  punctuation,  spelling,  and  capitaliza- 
tion of  the  originals,  no  matter  how  inconsistent 
these  may  seem  to  the  modern  reader.  The  only 
exceptions  to  this  rule  are  a  few  corrections  of 
obvious  printers'  errors,  the  retention  of  which 
would  add  needless  confusion. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  help  received 
during  the  progress  of  this  work.     To  the  libra- 


IX 


X  PKEFACE 

rians  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  of  the  Mary- 
land Historical  Society,  and  of  the  Charleston 
Library  Society,  I  am  indebted  for  the  permission 
to  use  rare  files  of  colonial  papers  and  documents. 
To  Mr.  Wilberforce  Eames  of  the  New  York  Public 
Library  I  am  indebted  for  much  bibliographical 
information.  My  hearty  thanks  are  especially  due 
to  Mr.  William  G.  Stanard,  of  the  Virginia  His- 
torical Society,  who  has  generously  allowed  me  to 
draw  upon  his  rare  knowledge  of  colonial  Virginia. 
I  desire  also  to  express  my  gratitude  to  my  friend. 
Miss  Anne  Selleck,  for  her  valuable  aid  in  the 
research  in  the  South. 

To  Professor  Ashley  H.  Thorndike  I  am  indebted 
for  much  helpful  criticism.  To  Professor  Charles 
S.  Baldwin  and  to  Professor  John  Erskine  I  am  in- 
debted for  kindly  advice.  It  is  to  Professor  William 
P.  Trent,  however,  that  I  am  especially  grateful  for 
the  criticism  and  encouragement  by  which  the  pres- 
ent work  has  advanced  from  its  earliest  stages. 

April,  1912. 


CONTENTS 


Pi.GK 

Intkoduction    1 

Chapter 

I.     The  New  England  Courant 8 

II.     The  New  England  Weekly  Journal  . .     31 

III.  ^'The  Hue  and  Cry  after  the  Busy- 

BoDY.''    Bradford's  American  Mer- 
cury         57 

IV.  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette  93 

V.     The    War    between    Bradford's    New 

York    Gazette   and   Zenger's   New 

York  Weekly  Journal 121 

VT.     The  Maryland  Gazette 150 

VII.     The  Virginia  Gazette  179 

VIII.     The  South  Carolina  Gazette 230 

Bibliography    266 

Index 273 


XI 


LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN  COLONIAL 
NEWSPAPERS  1704-1750 


INTEODUCTION 

Literature  in  the  American  colonies  in  the  earlier 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  produced  chiefly 
by  ecclesiastics  and  by  extremely  practical  men  of 
affairs.  The  New  England  divines  were  volumi- 
nous writers.  Any  catalogue  or  bibliography  of 
ante-revolutionary  publications  shows  a  large  pro- 
portion of  sermons  and  theological  treatises. 
Wherever  such  works  have  possessed  literary  or 
historical  value,  they  have  been  fully  analyzed  by 
the  literary  historian.  On  the  other  hand,  men  of 
affairs  like  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Colonel  Wil- 
liam Byrd,  whose  writings  represent  the  overflow 
from  varied  activities,  have  also  been  studied.  And 
these  two  classes  of  men  produced  all  the  well- 
known  literature  of  the  period.  Men  of  letters 
did  not  exist. 

Furthermore,  the  leaders  of  thought  in  the  col- 
onies were  not  anxious  to  promote  the  reading  of 
secular  literature.  In  the  North  they  regarded  it 
as  a  negligible  matter  compared  with  theological 
and  religious  instruction.  In  the  South  they  were 
often  friendly  to  the  cause  of  pure  letters,  but  their 
lives  were  occupied  with  the  multitudinous  details 
2  1 


•'2' '  ''liltfiKAtlY  mFLt^BlSrCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPEKS 

of  life  on  their  estates.  Only  in  some  hour  of 
relaxation  could  they  think  of  literature.  Benja- 
min Franklin  was  the  only  prominent  man  of  the 
period  who  deliberately  attempted  to  spread  the 
knowledge  and  love  of  literature  among  his  coun- 
trymen. Even  in  his  case,  the  attempt  was  rather 
his  favorite  avocation  than  his  serious  business. 

Under  such  circumstances,  ordinary  families 
would  know  little  or  nothing  of  English  secular 
literature.  They  would  not  hear  of  it  in  literary 
clubs.  They  would  not  see  it  on  the  shelves  of 
public  libraries,  nor  in  the  windows  of  book  shops. 
Only  from  some  remote,  unlooked-for  channel 
could  it  reach  the  majority  of  the  people.  Peddlers 
sometimes  carried  an  odd  volume  of  the  Spectator 
or  Tom  Jones  in  their  packs.  A  few  secular  books 
could  now  and  then  be  bought  for  a  song  at  an 
auction.  Booksellers  offered  strange,  miscellaneous 
collections  for  sale  with  increasing  frequency  after 
1730.  But  a  vastly  more  important  channel  of 
literary  influence  than  all  these  was  the  weekly 
newspaper.  And  it  will  be  our  purpose  to  investi- 
gate the  literature  tucked  away  in  the  odd  little 
papers  from  1704  to  1750. 

I  vAt   first   sight   the   ordinary  news    sheet    of   the 

'  earlier  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  would  seem 

an  unpromising  vehicle  for  literature  or  literary 

influence  of  any  kind.    Small,  ill-printed,  often  half 

illegible,  a  newspaper  had  a  precarious  existence 

at  best.     The  printing  press  itself  was  regarded  as 

\  a  doubtful  investment,  and  the  issue  of  a  paper  was 

I  beset  with  difficulty  from  first  to  last.     Just  be- 


INTRODUCTION  3 

cause  of  certain  complexities  in  the  situation,  how- 
ever, the  small  colonial  weekly  was  often  forced  to 
become  literary  or  cease  to  exist.A 
jX  It  was  a  newspaper,  and  yet  it  had  no  news, 
jlntercolonial    communication    was    irregular    and 
unsystematized  during  all  the  earlier  years  of  our 
period.      As   to   European  news,  the   colonies   re- 
ceived a  few  chance  items  usually  about  six  months 
late.     No   ships   from  London  arrived  in   colonial 
ports  during  the  winter  months.      In  fact,  naviga- 
tion was  nearly  at  a  standstill  during  January  and 
February.X   Again    and    again    occurs    the    item: 
' '  Custom-house,  N.  York.     Inward  Entries,  None. '  '^  \/ 
A  few  vessels  from  North  Carolina,  Maryland,  or 
at  most,  Jamaica,  plied  the  coast  even  in  winter. 
But  it  was  usually  spring  before  any  considerable 
number  even  of  these  coasting  craft  set  sail.      By 
April,   we   find,    in    one   New   York   paper,^    ships 
^'entered  inward''  from  Gibraltar,  Lisbon,  Boston, 
Ehode  Island,  St.  Augustine,  South  Carolina,  Bar- 
badoes,  Curacoa,  and  Dover.     It  is  clear  that  only 
a  third  of  these  could  have  brought  foreign  mails. 
A  still  more  serious  difficulty  had  to  be  met  by 
the  early  colonial  editor  if  he  tried  to  write  polit- 
ical editorials.      Criticism  of  the  government  was 
not  in  order.     Even  a  casual  remark  on  some  petty 
detail    of    the    administration's    policy    meant    an 
official  inquiry  usually  followed  by  the  discontinu- 
ance of  the  paper,  while  any  open  opposition  to  the 
governor   soon  led  to   a  trial   for   libel.      "As   to 

^  See   The  New   York  Gazette,  No.   480^  January   7,   1734-35,  and 
No.  481,  January  14,  1734-35. 
2  Ibid.,  No.  493,  April  7,  1735. 


4         LITEEAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

anytliing  like  free  discussion  of  the  government,'^ 
says  John  Esten  Cooke,  in  his  history  of  Virginia,^ 
''that  was  not  the  fashion  of  the  times,  in  news- 
papers.'^  Thus  the  unfortunate  editor  could  not 
fall  back  on  political  discussion  if  the  week's  news 
failed  him.  The  Governor,  his  council  and  his 
assembly  could  not  be  safely  mentioned,  except  in 
terms  of  formal  and  obsequious  compliment. 
Whenever  the  Governor  was  in  difficulties  with  his 
legislature,  the  newspapers  gravely  printed  all  the 
speeches,  without  editorial  comment.  Some  papers 
habitually  padded  their  columns  with  the  compli- 
mentary addresses  of  the  various  Governors,  on 
the  convening  of  the  provincial  legislatures.  This 
practice  withstood  for  many  years  the  ridicule  of 
Franklin  and  other  enterprising  editors,  before  it 
was  laughed  out  of  existence. 

Cut  off,  then,  from  news  and  politics,  what  was 
Ithe  editor  to  do?      He  might  write  homilies,  and 
ihe  sometimes  did.      But  he  knew  that  his  readers 
I  were  not  suffering  from  any  lack  of  religious  and 
iethical   instruction.       His    subscription    list    could 
ihardly  be  kept  up  if  he  made  his  newspaper  a  mere 
auxiliary  to  the  pulpit.      The  people  must   have 
something  new  and  entertaining  that  they  would 
j3ay  for.     Thus  at  length  the  first  bold  experiment 
of  writing  essays  and  verse  on  English  models  was 
tried.      The  result  was  a  definite  type  of  literary 
weekly  which  flourished  in  the  colonies  for  twenty- 
five  years  or  more. 
1  The  Addisonian  essay  is  one  of  the  easiest  liter- 

'  Virginia.    A  History  of  the  People.    By  John  Esten  Cooke.     P. 
330. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

ary  forms  to  imitate  with  a  measure  of  success. 
Even  school  children  can  often  compose  tolerable 
additions  to  the  Spectator.  The  model  may  be 
made  to  cover  a  wide  variety  of  subjects,  ranging 
from  philosophical  speculations,  through  anecdote 
and  personal  reminiscence  to  connected  narrative. 
The  opportunity  for  satire  in  character  studies  is 
also  unlimited.  When  the  colonial  editor  began  to 
understand  these  possibilities,  he  saw  that  he  had 
a  mine  of  wealth  from  which  he  could  draw  at  a 
moment's  notice.  If  he  had  clever  writers  on  his 
staff,  who  could  sustain  character  and  dialogue,  so 
much  the  better.  In  any  case  there  were  always 
the  traditional  subjects  of  the  essay  to  fall  back 
upon. 

If  the  local  wits  were  momentarily  at  a  loss,  they 
searched  their  own  book  shelves  for  selections  to  re- 
print in  the  colonial  press.  Entire  numbers  of  the 
Spectator  were  taken  bodily  into  both  Northern 
and  Southern  papers,  and  the  editors  had  the  pleas- 
ing assurance  that  Addison  would  be  new  to  most 
of  their  readers.  Other  essays  from  later  period- 
icals soon  followed.  Even  plays  were  reprinted  as 
serials.  The  London  Merchant y  or  The  History  of 
George  Barnwell  appeared  serially  in  The  New 
England  Weekly  Journal  very  shortly  after  its 
production  in  London.  Dodsley's  Toy  Shop,  A 
Dramatick  Satire  appeared  in  both  The  Virginia 
Gazette  and  The  South  Carolina  Gazette.  Scenes 
from  Addison's  Cato  were  always  in  order.  Pope's 
Essay  on  Man  and  The  Dunciad,  Butler's  Hudihras, 
and    Dryden's    satires    were    quoted    extensively. 


b  LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL   NEWSPAPEKS 

And  all  this  reprinting  led  in  turn  to  more  imi- 
tation. The  Southern  papers  often  contained  ex- 
cellent original  couplets.  Charleston  versifiers 
wrote  prologues  and  epilogues  to  the  well-known 
plays  presented  in  Charleston  theaters, 
y  Thus  in  one  way  or  another  the  colonial  weekly 
became  literary.  The  first  page  of  any  paper  from 
1721  to  1740  is  likely  to  contain  essays  and  verse. 
Sometimes  the  literary  material  fills  an  entire  num- 
ber. Over  and  over  again  ''the  present  scarcity 
of  news''  is  pleaded  as  the  excuse  for  publishing 
"what  .  .  .  may  be  useful  to  Mankind  in  general.'''*)'. 
Benjamin  Franklin  deliberately  entertained  his 
readers  with  his  own  literary  efforts,  in  preference 
to  stale  news  from  Hungary  or  Poland. 

It  would  be  strange  if  such  literary  efforts,  be- 
coming normal  and  constant,  produced  nothing 
memorable.  In  point  of  fact,  not  only  was  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  Franklin's  best  work  done  for 
his  newspaper,  but  it  is  quite  probable  that  all  the 
f  secular  literature  of  the  period,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  may  be  found  in  these  early  news- 
papers. Certainly  the  newspapers  were  the  centers 
of  all  the  literary  influences  in  the  colonies  before 
J40.  Of  course  the  circumstances  under  which 
newspaper  literature  must  be  written  offer  great 
temptation  to  the  hack  writer.  And  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  hack  work  in  the  colonial  weeklies. 
But  when  all  due  allowances  are  made,  there  re- 
mains a  body  of  writing  worthy  of  investigation. 

*  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  112,  March  20,  1735-36. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

The  present  study  is  an  attempt  to  describe  the 
most  typical  literary  efforts,  and  to  analyze  the 
most  typical  literary  influences,  in  the  weekly 
journals  from  1704  to  1750.  It  will  be  impossible 
to  include  all  the  newspapers  containing  literary 
essays,  since  every  news  sheet  in  the  colonies  was 
occasionally  literary.  Wherever  the  essays  tend  to 
•approach  the  stereotyped  form  of  moral  treatise, 
they  will  receive  less  emphasis.  For  example,  the 
essays  of  Jeremiah  Gridley  in  The  Weekly  Re- 
hearsal^ will  not  be  treated  individually.  Nor  will 
the  development  of  any  paper  be  traced  after  it 
became  a  news  journal  or  a  purely  political  journal. 

One  fact  is  already  clear.  Whatever  the  merit  of 
these  literary  attempts  in  the  colonial  papers,  they 
prove  that  the  English  literature  of  the  period  was 
known  and  imitated  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  much 
earlier  than  has  often  been  supposed. 

°  Vide  infra,  Bibliography^  p.  271. 


CHAPTEK  I 

The  New  England  Coueant 

The  Boston  News-Letter  of  Monday,  April  24^ 
1704,  is  indeed,  a  pitiful  enough  affair.^  Half  a  sheet 
of  ''pot"  paper,  the  first  page  filled  with  stale  news 
about  the  Pretender  and  his  Popish  emissaries  in 
Scotland,  extracted  from  back  numbers  of  the  Lon- 
don Flying  Post,  and  The  London  Gazette,^  the  sec- 
ond with  a  few  marine  notices  and  Boston  scrap- 
gatherings — ^that  is  all. 

In  the  next  seventeen  years,  two  more  news-sheets^ 
were  successfully  established  in  the  British  Col- 
onies, yet  the  littleYBoston  Neivs-Letter  of  1704  is 
typical  enough  of  every  issue  of  any  one  of  them  up 
to  1721.  A  little  more  news  crept  in,  it  is  true,  as 
time  went  on;  more  advertisements  filled  out  the 
l^^page,  'Or,  when  these  were  lacking,  the  Addresses 


1^^ 


\ 


^  An  attempt  made  in  Boston,  1690,  to  set  up  a  newspaper,  PublicTc 
Occurrences,  will  not  be  discussed  here,  since  the  authorities  regarded 
it  as  a  pamphlet,  and  suppressed  it  after  the  first  number.  A  copy  is 
extant  in  the  London  State  Paper  office,  and  has  been  reproduced 
several  times,  notably  in  The  New  England  Historical  and  Genea- 
logical Register,  April,  1S76,  in  Hudson's  Journalism  in  the  United 
States,  p.  44,  and  in  Ten  Fac-Simile  Reproductions,  relating  to  Old 
Boston  and  its  Neighborhood,  by  Dr.  S.  A.  Green. 

''The  Flying  Post,  Dec.  4,  1703.  The  London  Gazette,  Dec.  20, 
1703. 

'  The  Boston  Gazette,  Boston,  Mass.,  first  issue  Monday,  Dec.  21, 
1719,  and  The  American  WeeTcly  Mercury,  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  first 
issue,  Tuesday,  Dec.  22,  1719, 

8 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COUKANT  9 

of  the  Governors  of  Massachusetts  or  Carolina  to 
their  Legislatures  made  a  respectable  padding. 

European  news  failed  entirely  during  the  long 
ice-bound  winters."*  When  at  last,  the  belated  ships 
arrived  in  port,  they  brought  ill-assorted  bundles  of 
London  papers  with  them  for  the  colonial  press,  and 
we  presently  hear  the  news  of  three  or  four  months 
before,  ^^  Taken  from  the  Gazetts  and  other  Pub- 
lick  Prints^  of  London,  per  Captain  Barlow,''  or 
^'per  Captain  Bourn,  "^  ^'Captain  Janverin,"^ 
*^ Captain  Breed  of  Dublin,"  and  many  more, 
throughout  the  early  colonial  period.  The  result 
was  a  garbled  mass  of  items.  ^^They  write  from 
Eome"  of  an  earthquake  or  a  coronation,  follows  a 
fire  in  Connecticut,  with  no  rhyme  nor  reason  to  be 
discovered  an^^where.  But  this  very  barrenness  and 
utter  dearth  of  timely  news  at  length  forced  the 
editorial  mind  to  turn  inward,  to  become  inventive ; 
in  brief,  to  attempt  literature. 

VFor  fifteen  years  The  News-Lett er  held  an  undi- 
sputed monopoly  of  dulness.  John  Campbell,  the 
publisher,  with  true  Scotch  persistence,  kept  the 
paper  going,  no  one  knows  quite  how.  Subscribers 
seldom  paid,  and  many  are  the  polite  but  urgent 
duns  to  be  found  in  its  pages.  The  fact  probably 
was  that  his  office  of  postmaster  to  the  province  and 
his  trade  of  bookseller  made  The  News-Letter  a 

* "  If  he  does  not  Print  a  Sheet  every  other  Week  this  Winter  Time, 
he  designs  to  make  it  up  in  the  Spring,  when  Ships  do  arrive  from 
Great  Britain."  The  Boston  Neivs-Letter,  No.  821,  January  11,  1721. 
Editorial  Notice. 

"  See  The  Boston  News-Letter,  December  5,  1720. 

•Ibid.,  April  13  and  17,  1721. 

'Ibid.,  October  30,  1721. 


10       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

pleasant  little  speculation  of  no  vital  importance  to 
his  fortunes.  The  postmaster  naturally  got  the 
news  at  first  hand,  such  as  it  was.  Hence  the  com- 
bination postmaster-editor  is  seen  over  and  over 
again  in  the  colonies,  and,  indeed,  the  first  outcome 
of  a  new  post-office  appointment  was  likely  to  be  a 
new  weekly.  Such  was  the  precise  origin  of  The 
Boston  Gazette,  in  1719.  Scarcely  had  William 
Brooker  superseded  Campbell  in  the  post-office  when 
the  new  paper  appeared,">ushered  in  by  a  warm  dis- 
pute between  the  rivals  as  to  whether  Campbell  had 
been  removed  from  office  or  had  resigned  volun- 
tarily; Brooker,  of  course,  insisting  that  Campbell's 
retirement  had  been  forced  upon  him  by  the  Deputy- 
Postmaster  General.^  Even  a  quarrel  like  this,  how- 
ever, in  which  each  gentleman  politely  calls  the  other 
a  liar,  is  undeniably  tedious.  There  is  nothing  to 
presage  the  literary  development  which  soon  took 
place. 

James  Franklin  printed  Brooker 's  new  Gazette. 
But  Brooker  abandoned  the  enterprise,  after  forty 
numbers,  to  Philip  Musgrave,  who  succeeded  him  as 
postmaster  and  promptly  employed  another  printer, 
Samuel  Kneeland.  Kneeland  will  appear  again  in 
these  pages.  The  point  to  be  noted  at  present  is 
that  James  Franklin,  the  young  printer  with  recent 
London  experience,  was  left  without  employment. 
Being  an  adventurous  and  rather  versatile  Yankee, 
he  seized  upon  the  idea  of  publishing  a  weekly  him- 
self. This  was  entirely  unprecedented.  Franklin 
had  no  especial  access  to  the  news,  had  no  influence 

'  See  Nos.  4  and  6  of  The  Boston  Gazette,  January  11  and  25,  1719- 
20,  and  The  Boston  News-Letter  of  January  18,  1719-20. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COURANT  11 

whatever,  and  yet,  as  Isaiah  Thomas  says,  *' En- 
couraged by  a  number  of  respectable  characters, 
who  were  desirous  of  having  a  paper  of  a  different 
cast  from  those  then  published,  he  began  the  publi- 
cation, at  his  own  risk,  of  a  third  newspaper,  entitled 
The  New  England  Coiirant/'^  It  is  delightful  to  be 
assured  by  the  first  President  and  founder  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  that  the  founders  of 
The  Neiv  England  Courant  were  respectable  char- 
acters. They  have  been  otherwise  known  to  fame 
as  the  Hell-Fire  Club.^^ 

Competition  with  the  News-Letter  or  the  Gazette 
in  the  matter  of  news  would  have  been  hopeless. 
Moreover,  James  Franklin  saw  clearly  enough  how 
absurd  the  two  existing  papers  were  as  news  jour- 
nals. He  not  only  made  no  attempt  to  rival  them 
on  this  ground;  he  ridiculed  their  stupid  news  by 
every  possible  device.  And  for  the  success  of  his 
own  paper  he  had  to  rely  on  a  totally  different  appeal 
to  his  public. 

He  had  recently  returned  from  England,  where  he 
had  been  apprenticed  to  a  printer.  The  dates  of  his 
London  apprenticeship  are  uncertain.  He  began 
business  in  Boston  by  March,  1717;^^  hence  we  can 
scarcely  suppose  that  he  went  over  to  London  much 
later  than  1714.  In  any  case,  he  must  have  heard 
the  Spectator  and  the  Guardian  familiarly  mentioned 

®  See  History  of  Printing  in  America.  In  Transactions  and  Collec- 
tions of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society^  Vol.  V,  p.  110. 

"  See  Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  VI,  p. 
32,  also  The  New  England  Courant,  No.  25,  January  22,  1722. 

"  See  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  II,  chap.  XV,  p.  394. 
Article  by  Delano  Gocldard,  on  The  Press  and  Literature  of  The 
Provincial  Period.     The  date  is  here  given  as  1716,  Old  Style. 


12       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

everywhere.  He  could  hardly  escape  hearing  talk 
of  books,  too,  at  the  printing-house.  We  know  that 
he  became  a  '' free-thinker, ' '  or,  to  speak  accurately, 
a  Deist.  And  we  know  that  The  Neiv  England 
Courant  had  in  its  office  a  library  to  draw  from, 
which  in  the  number  and  variety  of  its  secular  books, 
could  have  challenged  comparison  with  the  few 
notable  colonial  libraries  of  that  date.  From  such 
materials  undoubtedly,  James  Franklin  drew  his  idea 
of  publishing  a  forum  of  wit  rather  than  a  news- 
paper. 

It  was  a  happy  moment  for  such  an  undertaking. 
Whoever  has  looked  through  the  titles  of  colonial 
publications,^ 2  and  reflected  on  the  Perpetual  Alma- 
nacs of  Spiritual  Meditation ^^  sermons  such  as  The 
Day  of  a  Godly  Man's  Death  better  than  the  Day  of 
his  Birth,^"^  or  Cotton  Mather's  Tremenda,  The 
dreadful  Sound  with  which  the  wicked  are  to  he 
thunderstruck :  Sermon  at  the  Execution  of  a  mur- 
derer,^^  will  readily  perceive  that  the  provincial 
mind,  starved  except  for  its  theological  diet,  must 
have  secretly  craved  amusement.  No  doubt  the  pro- 
fane reader  of  to-day  would  derive  some  entertain- 
ment from  a  Tract  on  Anabaptist  Plunging ,^^  but 
the  ordinary  New  Engiander  of  1720  would  have  ex- 
pected to  hear  immediately  ^'the  dreadful  sound 
with  which  the  wicked  are  to  be  thunderstruck, ' '  if 
he  had  laughed  directly  at  a  tract.     Even  good  seri- 

^  Ante-Eevolutionary  Publications,  in  Transactions  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  309-666. 
"Ibid.,  p.  400. 
'*  Ibid.,  p.  393. 
""  Ibid.,  p.  390. 
"  Ibid.,  p.  382. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COURANT  13 

ous  literature  was  astonishingly  scarce.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Mr. 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  at  the  tercentenary  celebra- 
tion of  the  birth  of  Milton,  held  in  Boston,  Decem- 
ber 9,  1908,  challenged  his  hearers  to  produce  evi- 
dence of  a  single  copy  of  Milton's  Paradise  Lost  in 
Massachusetts  within  a  century  of  its  first  publi- 
cation.^'^ Evidence  has  since  been  found  of  several 
copies,  and  we  shall  draw  attention  to  the  copy  in 
the  possession  of  the  Coiirant,  and  to  an  early, 
hitherto  unnoted  reference  to  Milton  in  the  Courant. 
The  very  fact  that  these  are  exceptional,  however, 
tells  the  story. 

English  books  are  never  noted  for  sale  in  the  book 
advertisements  of  the  newspapers  before  1730  at 
the  earliest.  Colonial  reprints  of  English  secular 
literature^  ^  are  few  and  scattering,  and  do  not  begin 
until  a  later  period.    Owners  of  private  libraries^ ^ 

"  His  later  researches  are  given  in  a  paper  on  Milton 's  Impress  on 
the  Provincial  Literature  of  New  England,  published  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society.  Various  references  to  Milton  in  early 
Massachusetts  literature  are  here  gathered  together,  and  a  Harvard 
copy  of  Paradise  Lost,  1720,  is  noted,  as  well  as  John  Adams's  copy 
which  he  read  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  in  1756. 

^*  The  only  piece  of  English  literature  reprinted  in  full  in  America 
before  1720  is  Pilgrim's  Progress,  printed  for  Samuel  Sewall,  by 
Samuel  Green,  the  Cambridge  printer,  in  1681.  A  copy  was  secured 
by  the  Boston  Public  Library  in  1903.  A  book  for  children  called 
The  Temple  of  Wisdom  was  printed  by  William  Bradford,  Phila- 
delphia, 1688.  It  appears  to  have  included  George  Wither 's  Abuses 
Stript  and  Whipt,  as  well  as  Divine  Poems  from  Francis  Quarles,  and 
some  Essays  of  Francis  Bacon. 

"  Such  as  the  Samuel  Lee,  Mather,  and  Prince  collections  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  Colonel  Byrd  library  in  Virginia.  None  of  these 
would  have  been  even  remotely  accessible  to  the  Franklins  or  to  ordi- 
nary citizens  of  the  lower  order,  unless  willed  to  the  city  as  the  Prince 


14      LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

of  any  extent  throughout  all  the  colonies  before  1730 
could  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand.  The 
nature  of  these  libraries  we  shall  speak  of  later.  At 
present,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  recall  Benjamin 
Franklin's  delight  when,  as  a  boy,  he  gained  access 
to  any  collection  of  books.  In  fact,  the  man  on  the 
street  would  simply  know  nothing  of  the  mere  com- 
monplaces of  English  literature  and  literary  history, 
when  James  Franklin  and  the  Hell-Fire  Club  put 
together  the  essays  and  letters  for  The  New  Eng- 
land C  our  ant.  What  these  essays  in  the  first  seven- 
teen numbers  of  the  Courant  may  have  been,  we  do 
not  know,  for  unfortunately  the  only  extant  file, 
that  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's 
library,  begins  with  number  18,  December  4,  1721. 
But  we  have  first-hand  evidence  about  the  missing 
numbers  in  the  irate  News-Letters  of  August,  1721. 
John  Campbell  at  last  flashes  into  good,  picturesque 
English,  as  he  comments  on  the  young  upstart  who 
has  given  a  ''very,  very  frothy,  fulsome  account  of 
himself"  in  his  first  Courant,  of  August  7,  ^'reflect- 
ing too,  too  much  that  my  performances  are  now  and 
then  very,  very  Dull.'' 

Let  us  reflect  a  moment  on  what  John  Campbell 
would  have  been  likely  to  call  frothy  and  fulsome  in 

collection  was,  about  1750.  Thomas  Prince  was  a  Pastor  of  Old  South 
Church,  however,  and  his  library  was  naturally  theological  and  his- 
torical,— ' '  my  books  that  are  in  Latin^  Greek  and  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages" as  he  described  them  in  his  will.  Not  a  trace  of  secular 
literature  in  English.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  Boston  public 
library  from  1674, — not,  of  course,  a  circulating  library,  and  appar- 
ently of  very  little  influence  for  many  years.  Benjamin  Franklin 
never  mentions  it.  See  article  on  Libraries  in  Boston,  by  Justin 
Winsor,  in  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  IV,  p.  279  ff. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COURANT  15 

journalism.  He  very  truly  maintained  that  he  had 
faithfully  furnished  news  for  seventeen  years.  No 
opinions,  ideas  or  arguments  had  ever  appeared  in 
his  paper.  He  had  never  swerved  from  his  severe 
ideal.  Is  it  possible  that  he  would  have  called  the 
first  number  of  the  Spectator  frothy!  Be  that  as  it 
may,  we  have  here  a  clear  indication  that  Franklin 
had  launched  a  different  sort  of  paper  from  any 
before  known  in  Boston. 

As  to  the  literary  influence  behind  the  new  under- 
taking, the  evidence  is  overwhelming.  The  Hell- 
Fire  Club  was  trying  to  write  like  the  Spectator. 
The  very  look  of  an  ordinary  first  page  of  the 
Coiirant  is  like  that  of  a  Spectator  page.  Short, 
formal  essays  usually  strike  the  eye  first,  followed 
by  letters  from  various  fictitious  characters  whose 
odd  names  have  a  humorous  significance.  The  intro- 
ductory essay  in  the  Courant  has  caught  the  very 
phrases  of  the  Spectator,  such  as  '^It  has  often  been 
observed,''  ^'Archbishop  Tillotson  very  justly  ob- 
serves," '^ nothing  is  more  certain  than  that,"  "I 
was  not  a  little  pleased,"  ''there  is  scarce  any  part 
of  a  Man's  Life,"  "an  ingenious  writer  has  said." 
Participial  phrases  and  "since  "or  "as  "clauses  fre- 
quently introduce  paragraphs  as  in  the  Spectator. 
The  essay  is  referred  to  as  a  Speculation.  A  Latin 
motto  always  introduces  the  more  serious  papers. 
The  very  tricks  and  manners  of  Addison  and  Steele 
are  all  here. 

After  the  more  formal  introductory  paper,  often 
on  some  general  topic,  such  as  zeal  or  hypocrisy  or 
learning  or  honor,  the  facetious  letters  of  imaginary 


16       LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

correspondents  commonly  fill  the  remainder  of  the 
Courant's  first  page^  Timothy  Turnstone  addresses 
flippant  jibes  to  Justice  Nicholas  Clodpate  in  the 
first  extant  number  of  the  Courant.  Tom  Pen- 
Shallow  quickly  follows,  with  his  mischievous  little 
postscript :  ^^Pray  inform  me  whether  in  your  Prov- 
ince Criminals  have  the  Priviledge  of  a  Jury. ' '  Tom 
Tram  writes  from  the  Moon  about  a  certain  ^Sdllain- 
ous  Postmaster'^  he  has  heard  rumors  of.  Ichabod 
Henroost  complains  of  a  gadding  wife.^*^  Abigail 
Afterwit  would  like  to  know  when  the  editor  of  the 
Gazette  ^'intends  to  have  done  printing  the  Carolina 
Addresses  to  their  Governour,  and  give  his  Eeaders 
Something  in  the  Eoom  of  them,  that  will  be  more 
entertaining. ' '2^  Betty  Frugal  complains  to  Mr. 
Turnstone  of  the  embarrassing  addresses  of  her 
ardent  ^'journeyman  gentleman. ' '^^  Fanny  Mourn- 
ful dilates  on  a  stepmother's  cruelty.^^  Homespun 
Jack  deplores  the  fashions  in  general,  and  small 
waists  in  particular.^^  Tabitha  Talkative  and 
Dorothy  Love  discuss  gossiping.^^ 

Not  only  is  the  general  treatment  of  these  homely 
characters  like  the  treatment  of  corresponding  char- 
acters in  the  Spectator,  but  the  very  names  of  the 
fictitious  personages  in  the  Courant  often  suggest 
those  of  the  Spectator,  Ichabod  Henroost,  complain- 
ing of  his  gadding  wife,  is  probably  a  reflection  of 

^  See  The  New  England  Courant,  No.  24,  January  15,  1721-22. 

2^  Ibid.,  No.  26,  January  29,  1721-22. 

« Ibid.,  No.  29. 

=»  Ibid.,  No.  31. 

"  Ibid.,  No.  67. 

"  Ibid. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COUKANT  17 

Nathaniel  Henroost  of  the  Spectator P  The  similar- 
ity of  Nathaniels  grievance  makes  the  borrowing 
almost  a  certainty.  He  is  a  henpecked  husband. 
' '  There  is  not  such  a  slave  in  Turkey  as  I  am  to  my 
dear,''  says  he.  Biddy  Loveless,^^  George  Goslingj^^ 
Martha  Housewife,^^  Eve  Afterday,*^*^  Alice  Thread- 
needle,^^  are  all  lowly  correspondents  of  Mr. 
Spectator.  Sometimes,  it  is  true,  the  homeliness  of 
the  Courant's  characters  suggests  what  Defoe  was 
doing  about  1718  in  Mist's  Weekly  Journal.  We 
know  that  an  occasional  copy  of  Mist's  Journal 
reached  the  office  of  the  Courant.  Most  of  the  ex- 
ternal evidence,  however,  favors  the  probability  that 
the  Hell-Fire  Club  was  using  the  Spectator  directly. 
Classical  names  enter  the  Courant  as  well.  Phil- 
anthropos  urges  the  wealthy  to  help  struggling 
young  men  along  in  business.^^  Hypercarpus  dis- 
courses on  pride  of  heart.^^  Philomusus  writes  halt- 
ing, silly  doggerel  as  a  travesty  on  New  England 
elegiac  poetry. ^^  Hypercriticus  also  pokes  fun  at 
the  elegies  of  the  day.^^  No  one  will  need  to  be  re- 
minded that  just  such  satire  abounds  in  the  pages 
of  the  Spectator.  Above  all,  when  Proteus  or  Old 
Janusr  enters  in  the  forty-sixth  Courant,  for  June 

^  See  Spectator,  No.  176. 

"  Ibid.,  No.  196. 

'^  Ibid.,  No.  191. 

»Ibid.,  No.  178. 

8"  Ibid.,  No.  190. 

^Ibid.,  No.  182. 

^  See  The  New  England  Courant,  No.  45,  June  11,  1722. 

""Ibid.,  No.  46,  June   18,  1722. 

«*  Ibid. 

« Ibid.,  No.  67. 

3 


18       LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

18,  1722,  describing  himself  as  an  observer  of  ''all 
men,  and  all  things  at  will, ' '  and  becoming  soon  the 
very  personification  and  symbol  of  the  Courant's 
existence,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  have  a  re- 
flection of  Mr.  Spectator  himself.  Old  Janus  can 
be  all  things  to  all  men;  in  fact,  he  can  even  be  a 
ladies'  man  if  he  chooses. 

So  much  for  the  internal  evidence.  It  might  be 
multiplied,  especially  if  we  considered  the  Dogood 
papers  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  published  early  in 
1722  in  the  C  our  ant;  we  shall  defer  any  discussion 
of  these,  however,  until  the  external  and  direct  evi- 
dence for  the  Spectator  and  the  Guardian,  as  models 
for  the  Courant,  has  been  put  forward. 

Internal  evidence  alone  is  always  a  bit  dubious. 
The  peculiarities  of  diction  and  the  general  essay 
method  which  we  have  seen  in  the  Courant  might  be 
found  in  other  writings  of  the  period,  although  no- 
where except  in  Addison  and  Steele  in  such  fulness. 
The  natural  assumption  is  that  a  body  of  essays  of 
^  this  general  type  follows  the  most  conspicuous  ex- 
ample of  that  type.  In  this  case  a  solid  buttress  of 
fact  supports  the  assumption.  Number  166  of  the 
Guardian  appears  in  number  141  of  the  Courant; 
and  in  number  44  of  the  Courant,  we  are  told  that 
John  Harvard,  ''as  cunning  a  Lad  as  any  we  have 
at  our  College, '^  charges  the  Courant  with  copying 
from  other  authors,  and  mentions  the  Guardian, 
"That  Discourse  of  Honour  was  in  the  Guardian/^ 
Franklin  denies  it,  yet  familiarity  with  the  Guardian 
is  evident.  John  Harvard,  by  the  way,  as  the  Cour- 
ant says,  "looks  into  Books''  and  "writes  Indexes.'' 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    COUKANT  19 

He  is  the  embodiment  of  learned,  ecclesiastical  edu- 
cation, of  the  Mather  type. 

Number  190  of  the  C  our  ant,  March  22,  1725  (long 
after  Benjamin  Franklin  left  Boston,  be  it  noted), 
has  an  editorial  essay  complaining  of  bitter  letters 
received  from  husbands  on  the  idleness  of  their 
wives,  ^'whether  from  the  growing  custom  of  Tea- 
Drinking  is  best  known  to  the  Purses  of  their  Hus- 
bands.'^  The  editor  ^s  advice  is  that  the  fair  part- 
ners be  persuaded  to  keep  a  journal  of  their  lives 
and  send  it  to  the  C  our  ant.  For  an  encouragement, 
he  will  present  them  with  such  a  journal  of  five  days, 
^^  drawn  up  by  a  Maiden  Lady,  and  sent  to  the  Spec- 
tator.''  Then  follows,  of  course,  the  famous  Spec- 
tator paper,^^  given  verbatim,  containing  the  journal 
of  a  London  lady  of  fashion.  The  very  ease  and 
familiarity  with  which  the  Spectator  and  Guardian 
are  referred  to,  tell  the  story.  It  is  not,  ^'a  London 
periodical  called  the  Spectator.' '  It  is  ^Hhe  Spec- 
tator.'' 

Sometimes  (though  rarely  in  the  C  our  ant)  a  Lon- 
don weekly  which  is  itself  more  or  less  imitative  of 
the  Spectator  is  quoted.  For  instance,  the  Courant 
of  December  16,  1723,  number  124,  transfers  entire 
a  very  readable  piece  of  fun  from  Mist's  weekly 
Journal  of  Sept.  2,  1723.  It  purports  to  be  criticism 
and  begins  quite  in  the  dignified  Spectator  manner: 
^^  Meeting  the  other  Day  with  the  excellent  Ballad  of 
Moor  of  Moore  Hall  and  the  Dragon  of  Wantley 
and  reading  it  over  attentively,  I  wonder 'd  the  Spec- 
tator had  never  oblig'd  the  World  with  a  Criticism 

^Spectator,  No.  323. 


20      LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

of  it,  as  well  as  of  Chevy-Chase;  for  in  my  Opinion, 
it  may  boast  of  as  ancient  Song,  nor  is  the  Hero  of 
it  at  all  inferiour  to  Percy  or  Douglass."  Then  fol- 
lows a  racy  satire  on  the  hero's  superiority  to  Her- 
cules, who,  in  the  words  of  the  ballad, 

had  a  club, 

This  Dragon  to  drub 

Or  he'd  ne'er  don't  I         [done  it] 

warrant  ye : 

But  Moor  of  Moore-Hall, 

With  nothing  at  all, 

He  slew  the  Dragon  of  Wantley. 

The  most  interesting  evidence  of  literature  in  con- 
nection with  the  Courant,  and  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting evidences  of  secular  literature  in  all  the  colo- 
nies in  1722  remains  to  be  given.  We  refer  to  the 
list  of  books  in  the  possession  of  the  Courant,  and 
flaunted  before  the  public  in  the  Courant  of  July  2, 
1722,  number  48,  with  this  cutting  introduction : 

*^We  are  furnished  with  a  large  and  valuable  col- 
lection of  Books:  which  may  be  of  vast  Advantage 
to  us,  not  only  in  making  Indexes,  but  also  in  writ- 
ing on  Subjects  Natural,  Moral,  and  Divine.  .  .  . 
We  shall  at  this  Time  favor  you  with  a  small  part 
of  our  Catalogue,  viz."  The  list,  of  course,  follows. 
We  give  the  more  strictly  literary  portion  of  it. 

Shakespeare's  Works 

Virgil 

Aristotle's  Politicks 

Hudibras 

Milton 

The  Spectator,  8  volumes 


Works ' 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    COURANT  21 

The  Guardian,  2  volumes 

The  Turkish  Spy 

The  Athenian  Oracle 

The  British  Apollo 

The  Art  of  Thinking 

The  Art  of  Speaking 

The  Reader 

The  Lover 

Cowly^s  Works 

Burnet's  History  of  the  Reformation 

Burnet's  Theory  of  the  Earth 

Oldham's  Works 

The  Tail  of  the  Tub 

St.  Augustine 

A.  B.  Tillotson 

Dr.  Bates 

Dr.  South 

Mr.  Flavel 

Mr.  Charnock 


^^We  have  also  ...  a  vast  Quantity  of  Pam- 
phlets." Much  would  the  inquiring  reader  like  to 
know  if  pamphlets  of  Defoe  could  have  been  here 
included.  At  least  we  know  that  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin remembered  none  when  he  came  to  write  his 
Autobiography.  The  Autobiography  records  a  very 
early  reading  of  the  Essay  upo?i  Projects,^'^  but  when 
a  little  later  on  in  the  Autobiography,^^  Defoe's  con- 
versational method  is  praised,  only  those  works  of 
Defoe  which  Franklin  imported  years  afterwards 
for  his  book  trade  in  Philadelphia,  such  as  Robinson 

^Autobiography,   in    Writings   of  Benjamin  FranTclin,    ed.   A.   H. 
Smyth,  Vol.  I,  p.  238. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  251. 


22       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Crusoe  and  Moll  Flanders,  are  mentioned,  along 
with  the  Family  Instructor  which  he  himself  re- 
printed in  1740,  and  the  Religious  Courtship,  which 
Keimer  had  published  in  his  Universal  Instructor. 
Evidently  these  were  the  prominent  things  which, 
in  1771,  Dr.  Franklin  remembered  of  Defoe.^^  Of 
course  these  facts  indicate  nothing  definite  as  to 
Defoe 's  pamphlets.  There  may  have  been  any  num- 
ber of  them  in  the  Courant's  library.  In  any  case 
the  method  of  the  Courant  is  never  the  method  of 
Defoe.  Complex  irony  was  not  the  forte  of  the 
Hell-Fire  Club.  Benjamin  Franklin  once  or  twice 
achieved  something  of  the  sort  in  his  maturer  years. 
For  instance,  his  Prussian  Edict,  which  was  taken 
seriously  in  London  for  some  time,  and,  better  still, 
that  Biblical  paraphrase  which,  for  once,  took  the 
distinguished  Matthew  Arnold  out  of  his  depth.  No 
one  will  dream  of  denying  that  irony  too  subtle  for 
Matthew  Arnold  is  not  simple.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
the  Courant  followed  easier  models.  All  this,  of 
course,  quite  apart  from  the  question  of  pure  lit- 
erary merit.  Defoe  ^s  Shortest  Way  with  the  Dis- 
senters may  or  may  not  be  better  literature  than  the 
typical  Spectator  essay,  but  Defoe's  typical  ironic 
form  was  certainly  more  difficult  to  imitate  than 
Addison's. 

Moreover,  there  is  no  external  evidence  of  any 
other  literature  which  could  have  furnished  the  basis 
of  the  Courant  essay,  except  the  volumes  of  The 
Spectator,  The  Guardian,  and  essays  of  the  same 
general   type,   themselves   imitative,    such   as   The 

*®Date  of  Franklin's  commencement  of  the  Autobiography. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COURANT  23 

Reader  and  The  Lover,  or  the  introductory  essays 
in  Mist's  and  Applebee's  Journals.  If  the  Courant 
had  owned  any  other  noteworthy  literature  whatever, 
we  may  be  very  sure  that  such  would  have  appeared 
in  the  list,  since  the  avowed  purpose  of  this  list  was 
to  impress  ^' young  scribbling  collegians.''  Hence 
we  have  another  external  probability  that  the  Coiir- 
ant's  essays  were  formed  on  the  most  conspicuous 
type  of  essay  periodical. 

We  have  said  that  the  avowed  purpose  of  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Courant 's  book  list  was  to  impress 
college  folk.  One  might  wonder  at  the  possibility 
of  impressing  any  public  whatever,  learned  or  other- 
wise, with  such  a  meager  little  catalogue,  if  the  Har- 
vard College  Catalogue  of  1723  were  not  accessible. 
By  that  we  know  that  Addison,  Steele,  Bolingbroke, 
Dryden,  Pope,  Prior,  and  Swift  would  have  been 
looked  for  in  vain  at  Harvard  a  year  after  the  Cour- 
ant had  a  full  set  of  The  Spectator,  A  Tale  of  a 
Tub,  and  Milton.  Harvard  had  just  acquired  Mil- 
ton, it  is  true,  and  a  1709  Shakes^Deare ;  yet  these  are 
noted  so  particularly  by  literary  historians  such  as 
Dr.  S.  A.  Green  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  So- 
ciety, that  we  can  infer  a  new  significance  for  Milton, 
Shakespeare,  Swift  and  Addison,  all  in  the  printing 
office  of  an  unlearned  young  Boston  printer. 

And  what  about  the  chief  private  libraries  of  the 
day?  In  the  earliest  book  catalogue  printed  in 
British  America,  that  of  Samuel  Lee's  library.  Dr. 
Green  has  reckoned  about  two  hundred  English 
titles  in  a  library  of  a  thousand  books,  almost  all 


24      LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

Latin  and  theological.^^  This  library  was  too  old 
to  contain  Addison  or  Swift  (as  Samuel  Lee  left  the 
colonies  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury), but  it  has  not  even  a  copy  of  Milton.  Nor 
has  a  trace  of  Paradise  Lost  been  found  in  the 
Mather  libraries,  though  Cotton  Mather  knew  Mil- 
ton well  enough.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  learned 
author  of  A  Chronological  History  of  New  England^ 
began  to  collect  books  as  early  as  1703.  When  he 
died,  about  1750,  he  left  a  library  in  two  parts;  a 
large  theological  collection,  willed  to  the  Old  South 
Church,  and  a  valuable  collection  of  New  England 
historical  pamphlets,  willed  to  the  town,  and  now 
in  the  Boston  Public  Library.  Not  a  trace  of  secu- 
lar English  literature  anjnvhere  in  the  records, 
though  we  may  assume  safely  enough  that  gentle- 
men like  Mather  Byles  and  Thomas  Prince  had  their 
copies  of  Addison.  Indeed,  there  is  excellent  reason 
for  believing  that  they  had.  Nothing,  however,  can 
detract  from  the  distinction  which  belongs  to  the 
editors  of  the  Courant,  of  first  attempting  to  intro- 
duce and  to  write  literature  for  its  own  sake  in 
America. 

We  have  spoken^^  of  a  hitherto  unnoted  reference 
to  Milton  in  the  Courant,  It  is  a  news  item  of  Jan- 
uary 1,  1721,  number  22,  to  the  effect  that  a  ^^  noble 
Duke  is  about  to  erect  a  Monument  in  Westminster 
Abby  to  the  Memory  of  Milton  the  Poet.'^  Note 
the  interesting  fact  that  Milton  has  to  be  explained 
as  Milton,  the  Poet.     Excepting  the  reference  and 

"  See  Earliest  BooJc  Catalogue  Printed  in  this  Country.     In   Ten 
Facsimile  Reproductions  Eclating  to  Old  Boston,  pp.  28-31. 
*^  Vide  supra,  p.  13. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    COURANT  25 

quotations  in  Mather  ^s  Magnalia,  and  some  verses 
by  Mather  Byles,  all  noted  and  explained  by  Presi- 
dent Adams  in  his  article^^  previously  cited  in  these 
pages,  there  is  probably  no  earlier  reference  to 
Milton,  in  Massachusetts,  at  least.  Two  quotations 
from  Paradise  Lost  are  noted  by  President  Adams, 
in  later  issues  of  the  Courant,  one  introduced  by  the 
admiring  command:  '^Hear  how  the  lofty  Milton 
sings  of  this  in  his  own  inimitable  strain. '^  On  the 
whole,  the  Courant  could  use  Milton  about  as  freely 
as  the  Reverend  Cotton  Mather  himself  could  or  did. 
Archbishop  Tillotson's  sermons  were  in  the  Cour- 
ant's  library,  and  were  quoted  in  the  Courant  on 
several  occasions.  One  can  but  suspect  that  they 
proved  a  handy  weapon  against  the  Mathers  and 
the  Puritan  party  in  general.  Nicholas  Clodpate 
certainly  represents  one  of  these  Puritan  divines 
if  not  Mather  himself,  and  he  gets  some  vigorous 
whacks  from  Timothy  Turnstone.  ^^  Archbishop 
Tillotson  (whether  you  know  him  or  no),  very  justly 
observes  that  a  small  Portion  of  Wit,  and  a  great 
deal  of  Ill-Nature  will  furnish  a  Man  for  Satyr. 
But,  you.  Sir,  to  supply  the  want  of  a  little  Wit,  to 
accompany  your  Ill-Nature,  are  obliged  to  have  re- 
course to  a  downright  Lye  in  saying  that  the  Cour- 
ants  are  sent  to  your  Districts  by  the  Author  to  be 
read  gratis.  Good  Sir,  who  but  your  Worship  .  .  . 
desires  to  read  News  for  Nothing!' ^"^^  We  know 
that  Benjamin  Franklin  had  a  great  and  life-long 
admiration  for  Tillotson,  some  evidences  of  which 

*^ Milton's  Impress  on  the  Provincial  Literature  of  New  England. 
Published  by  Mass.  Hist.  Society  in  Proceedings,  Vol.  XLII,  p.  154  ff. 
*^  See  The  New  England  Courant,  December  4,  1721. 


/ 


26     litepaKy  influences  in  colonial  newspapers 

will  appear  in  a  later  chapter.  The  fourth  Dogood 
essay^^  represents  Plagius  (the  New  England 
Clergy),  in  the  Temple  of  Theology,  copying  Tillot- 
son's  sermons! 

The  Dogood  papers  show,  of  course,  more 
literary  influence  than  any  others  in  the  Cour- 
ant.  The  general  Spectator  form  is  intensified  in 
the  fourteen  little  essays  from  Silence  Dogood  to 
the  Editor.  We  shall  not  treat  them  at  length,  how- 
ever, since  they  have  been  ably  commented  on  by 
the  late  Professor  Albert  H.  Smyth  in  his  edition  of 
Franklin,  and  are  there  accessible  to  every  reader. 
All  commentators  agree  that  they  are  in  the  manner 
of  the  Spectator;  that  they  are  among  the  most  read- 
able and  charming  of  Franklin's  early  works;  and 
that  they  are  the  first  fruits  of  his  days  and  nights 
with  Addison  which  he  has  told  us  about  in  his 
Autohiography,^^  as  all  the  world  knows.  The  boy 
was  almost  twelve  years  old  when  an  odd  volume  of 
the  Spectator,  the  third,  fell  into  his  hands,  and  he 
has  recorded  the  great  delight  he  took  in  it.^^  May 
we  shrewdly  suspect  that  it  was  somehow  his  nat- 
ural desire  to  see  the  rest  of  the  Spectator,  which 
resulted  in  the  full  set  in  the  C  our  ant's  library  by 
the  time  he  was  sixteen?  If  so,  the  literary  idea 
back  of  the  Courant  would  be  largely  due  to  him. 
Without  entering  into  this  nice  point,  we  shall  pass 
directly  to  the  discovery  of  a  long  paragraph  in  the 
fourteenth  Dogood  paper,  quoted  verbatim  from  the 
one  hundred  and  eigh.ij-^.ii'h Spectator yOnBeligious 

**  See  The  New  England  Courant,  May  14,  1722. 
*"  See  Autobiography  in  Writings  of  Benjamin  FranJclin,  ed.  A.  H. 
Smyth,  Vol.  I,  pp.  241-242. 
"  Ibid. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COURANT  27 

Zeal,  which  is  also  the  subject  of  the  fourteenth 
Dogood  essay.  The  authors  of  the  quotation  are 
not  named,  except  as  ^ ingenious  gentlemen."  The 
word  "ingenious'^  is  used,  indeed,  nine  times  in  the 
short  Dogood  essays ;  and,  while  common  enough  in 
this  sense,  in  the  early  eighteenth  century,  there  is 
no  source  so  likely  to  have  suggested  it  to  Franklin 
^s  the  Spectator'. 

But  the  C  our  ant,  as  a  whole,  is  not  literature.  It 
took  over  a  literary  form,  it  used  purely  literary 
sources  as  they  had  never  been  used  in  America 
before,  and  if  the  time  had  been  ripe  for  the  '  ^  renais- 
sance of  New  England""*^  in  secular  culture,  no 
doubt  the  Courant  would  have  become  a  contribu- 
tory influence.  Certainly  there  was  no  lack  of  wit 
or  ability  in  the  enterprise.  The  Courant  is  enter- 
taining from  first  to  last.  But  the  editors  forgot 
the  urbanity  of  Mr.  Spectator, — forgot  that  one  con- 
siderable element  in  the  success  of  their  distin- 
guished model  was  his  genial,  imperturbable,  im- 
personal kindliness  of  manner.  To  be  sure,  Mr. 
Spectator  himself  might  have  had  rather  a  hard  life 
in  Boston  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1721.  But  he 
would  have  kept  at  least  on  bowing  terms  with  Cot- 
ton Mather,  and  assuredly  we  may  believe  that  he 
would  not  have  been  on  the  wrong  side  of  a  public 
question  like  inoculation. 

The  truth  is  that  the  Courant  represents  a  violent 
and  almost  coarse  reaction  against  clerical  domina- 
tion of  New  England.  This  of  itself  would  not  pre- 
vent   its    becoming    literature.      But    the    insolent 

*^  See  Literary  History  of  America,  by  Professor  Barrett  Wendell. 


28       LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

personalities  do,  unfortunately.  All  its  personal 
enemies  are  openly  vituperated  more  than  once. 
The  ^'villainous  postmaster, '^  who  had  taken  the 
printing  of  the  Gazette  from  Franklin,  is  irrever- 
ently addressed,  in  a  pretended  letter,  as  Old  Muss  f^ 
we  have  seen  how  John  Campbell  of  the  News -Letter 
was  '^ reflected  on.''  Cotton  Mather  is  thus  in- 
sulted: "The  first  Passage  concerning  Inoculation 
(in  the  writing  of  the  young,  scribbling  collegian) 
is  no  more  to  be  found  in  the  London  Mercury  here 
on  the  Table,  than  Cotton  Mather,  D.  D.  is  to  be 
found  in  the  List  of  the  Eoyal  Society  affixed  at  the 
other  end  of  the  Room. '  '^^  We  must  admit  that  this 
is  a  far  cry  from  the  Spectator.  Yet  one  hates  to 
give  up  altogether  the  literary  claim  for  the  Cour- 
ant.  The  very  elegance  of  the  model  puts  the  native 
talent  in  a  meaner  light.  Grotesque,  no  doubt, 
crude,  and  sometimes  coarse,  as  this  native  output 
is,  a  genuine  humor  and  shrewd  satiric  truth  of  life, 
a  spontaneous  freshness,  breaks  through  contin- 
ually. We  have  the  beginnings  of  something  like 
a  native  American  literature,  which  refuses  to  be 
literally  imitative  in  all  particulars.  The  next  Co- 
lonial newspaper  which  we  examine.  The  New  Eng- 
land Weekly  Journal,  will  show  a  much  closer  fol- 
lowing  of  literary  models,  in  letter  as  well  as  in 
spirit,  yet  we  shall  also  find  a  stiff,  school-boy  qual- 
ity quite  absent  from  the  Courant.  A  slight  illus- 
tration of  the  difference  may  be  found  in  a  word  for 
word  comparison  of  the  famous  introductory  sen- 

*^  See  The  New  England  Courant,  No.  25,  Jan.  22,  1722. 
"  Ibid. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    COURANT  29 

tence  of  the  first  Spectator  with  the  introductory 
sentences  of  the  first  Dogood  paper,  and  the  first 
literary  essay  of  The  Neiv  England  Weekly  Journal 
respectively. 

New  England  Journal, 
Spectator,  No.  1.        Dogood  Paper,  No.  1.  No.  3. 

I  have  observed  that  And  since  it  is  ob-  An  ingenious  Author 
a  reader  seldom  pe-  served  that  the  gen-  has  observed  that  a 
ruses  a  book  with  pleas-  erality  of  people,  now-  Eeader  seldom  peruses 
ure  until  he  knows  adays,  are  unwilling  a  book  with  pleasure, 
whether  the  writer  of  either  to  commend  or  till  he  has  a  tolerable 
it  be  a  black  or  a  fair  dispraise  what  they  Notion  of  the  Physi- 
man,  of  a  mild  or  cho-  read,  until  they  are  ognomy  of  the  Author, 
leric  disposition^  mar-  in  some  measure  in-  the  year  of  his  Birth 
ried  or  a  bachelor,  with  formed  who  or  what  and  his  Manner  of  liv- 
other  particulars  of  the  the  author  of  it  is,  ing,  with  several  other 
like  nature,  that  con-  whether  he  be  poor  or  Particulars  of  the  like 
duce  very  much  to  the  rich,  old  or  young,  a  Nature,  very  necessary 
right  understanding  of  scollar  or  a  Leather-  to  the  right  Under- 
an  author.  apron    Man,    etc,    and    standing  his  Works. 

give  their  opinion  of 
the  Performance,  ac- 
cording to  the  knowl- 
edge which  they  have 
of  the  author's  cir- 
cumstances, it  may  not 
be  amiss  to  begin  with 
a  short  account  of  my 
Past  Life  and  present 
condition.  .  .  . 

Now  Mather  Byles,  or  whoever  wrote  The  Neiv 
England  Weekly  Journal  essay,  obviously  wrote 
with  his  Spectator  at  hand;  how  stiff  his  transcrip- 
tion of  Addison's  ^' black  or  fair  man,"  into  ^'Phys- 
iognomy" !  But  how  true  a  note  from  genuine  first- 
hand life  in  Franklin's  '' Leather-apron  Man"!  A 
note  not  even  suggested  by  the  Spectator.     This  is 


30       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

a  minute  point,  of  course,  and  will  have  to  be  care- 
fully supported  by  investigation  of  all  the  many 
literary  efforts  in  The  New  England  Weekly  Jour- 
nal. Meanwhile  it  would  be  scarcely  fair  to  take 
our  leave  of  the  Coiirant  without  expressing  a  sus- 
picion that  when  the  Massachusetts  Historical  So- 
ciety publishes  its  treasured,  morocco-bound  volume, 
some  people  may  find  it  better  reading  than  SewalPs 
Diary  or  Cotton  Mather's  Magnalia, 


CHAPTER  II 

The  New  England  Weekly  Jouknal 

Mourn,  all  ye  scribblers  who  attempted  fame, 
Screened  by  the  umbrage  of  his  pow  'rf ul  name ; 


No  more  you'll  write  beneath  his  shade  conceal'd 
But  in  full  dulness  be  abroad  reveal'd." 

An  Elegy  on  the  long  expected  Death  of  Old  Janus} 
"He's  gone  !     Thanks  for  his  death !     who  dy'd  to  give 
The  world  a  poet  who  deserves  to  live. 

' Harvard's  honour,  and  New  England's  hope, 

Bids  fair  to  rise,  and  sing,  and  rival  Pope. ' ' 

On  the  Foregoing.^ 

Thus  the  Harvard  poets  and  wits  ushered  The  Neiu 
England  Courant  out  of  existence.  The  Collection 
of  Poems  by  Several  Hands,  published  in  1744,  must 
have  been  written  by  1727  or  1728,  for  the  most  part, 
since  a  portion  of  On  the  Foregoing  is  quoted  in  The 
Neiv  England  Journal  of  August  5,  1728,  number  72. 
Naturally  the  Elegy  on  Old  Janus  would  appear 
soon  after  the  Courant  ceased  to  exist,  in  the  early 
part  of  1727.^  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  educated 
young  ecclesiastics  had  been  teased  and  insulted  by 

^In  A  Collection  of  Poems  hy  Several  Hands,  published  by  B.  Green 
&  Co.,  Boston,  1744. 

2  Ibid. 

'  See  Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  VT, 
p.  38.  The  last  extant  number  of  the  Courant  is  jSTo.  252,  June  4, 
1726.  But  Isaiah  Thomas  would  be  likely  to  know  the  year  in  which 
it  was  given  up. 

31 


32       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

the  Courant,  to  the  point  of  severe  retaliation.  The 
Franklins  hated  and  at  the  same  time  bitterly  envied 
**yonng,  scribbling  collegians,"  such  as  Mather 
Byles.  The  college  partj^  tried  its  best  to  despise 
such  unwelcome  adversaries,  but  never  quite  suc- 
ceeded. As  a  Dunciad,  the  Elegy  on  the  long  ex- 
pected Death  of  Old  Janus  is  ridiculously  wide  of 
the  mark.  Dulness  is  about  the  only  fault  that 
could  not  be  laid  at  his  door.  Would  that  the  same 
might  be  said  of  "Harvard's  honor,  and  New  Eng- 
land's hope"! 

Mather  Byles  was  undoubtedly  the  hope  referred 
to,  who  "bade  fair  to  rise,  and  sing,  and  rival  Pope. " 
If  his  genuine  literary  culture  and  his  concentrated 
literary  effort  could  have  been  combined  with  Frank- 
lin's  originality,  we  might  have  had  a  really  great 
name  in  pure  letters  before  the  Eevolution.  A  full 
treatment  of  his  work  would  lie  outside  the  scope  of 
this  discussion.  Our  present  interest  is  in  his  shap- 
ing influence  on  The  New  England  Journal,  and  his 
large  contributions  thereto. 

It  is  an  interesting  and  significant  coincidence 
that  the  second  newspaper  in  Massachusetts  with 
literary  pretensions  should  have  been  organized 
under  circumstances  similar  to  the  first.  Samuel 
Kneeland,  already  mentioned  in  these  pages*  as  the 
printer  who  succeeded  James  Franklin  in  the  office 
of  the  Gazette,  was  ousted  in  his  turn  when  a  new 
postmaster,  Henry  Marshall,^  took  over  the  Gazette. 
Kneeland  immediately  made  plans  for  a  new  jour- 

*  Vide  supra,  chap.  I,  p,  10. 

'  See  Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  VI, 
p.  29. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOUKNAL      33 

nal,  just  as  James  Franklin  had  done  before  him; 
and,  like  Franklin  again,  he  was  cut  off  from  the 
most  natural  and  official  method  of  getting  the  news, 
pure  and  simple.  In  his  prospectus,  however,  sent 
out  March  20,  1727,  he  informed  his  public  that  he 
had  made  arrangements  with  suburban  reporters, 
as  we  should  call  them;  in  his  elegant  phrase  they 
are  ^^the  most  knowing  and  ingenious  Gentlemen 
in  the  several  noted  Towns  in  this  and  the  Neighbor- 
Provinces,  who  may  Take  particular  Care  season- 
ably to  Collect  and  send  what  may  be  remarkable 
in  their  Town  or  Towns  adjacent,  worthy  of  the 
Public  View. "  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Journal  be- 
came a  better  newspaper  than  the  Courant.  But 
the  notice  in  Kneeland's  prospectus  of  special  inter- 
est in  the  present  investigation  is  the  following  sug- 
gestive hint  of  its  large  aim,  independent  of  the 
news: 

''This  may  serve  as  a  Notification,  that  a  Select  number 
of  Gentlemen,  who  have  had  the  happiness  of  a  liberal 
Education,  and  some  of  them  considerably  improv'd  by 
their  Travels  into  distant  Countries;  are  now  concerting 
some  regular  schemes  for  the  Entertainment  of  the  in- 
genious Reader  and  the  Encouragement  of  Wit  and  Polite- 
ness ;  and  may  in  a  very  short  time,  open  upon  the  Public 
in  a  variety  of  pleasing  and  profitable  Speculations." 

Such  an  attempt,  following  directly  upon  the  steps 
of  the  Courant,  suggests  that  the  writers  for  the 
Journal  were  using  the  purely  literary  idea  of  their 
predecessors  with  no  competitor  now  in  the  field, 
and  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Delano  Goddard^  that  one 

"  See  Press  and  Literature  of  the  Provincial  Period,  in  Memorial 
History  of  Boston,  Vol.  II,  chap.  XV,  p.  396,  note. 
4 


34      LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

of  the  members  of  the  Hell-Fire  Club,  Matthew 
Adams,  probably  wrote  for  the  Journal  after  tjae 
Courant  ceased,  seems  reasonable.  Indeed,  it  would 
seem  reasonable  that  the  Journal  should  use  as  many 
as  possible  of  the  writers  for  the  Courant,  did  we 
not  know  that  they  had  made  themselves  obnoxious 
to  the  community.  Their  most  brilliant  apprentice 
had  long  since  gone  to  Philadelphia  ;'^  so  that,  on 
the  whole,  we  are  dealing  with  a  wholly  new  organi- 
zation, this  time  truly  made  up  of  respectable  char- 
acters, with  the  best  traditions  of  culture  in  the  prov- 
ince behind  them. 

First,  as  to  Samuel  Kneeland  himself.  He  had 
served  his  apprenticeship  with  Bartholomew  G-reen, 
printer  for  the  College,  and  publisher  of  the  News- 
Letter  after  1722.  Bartholomew  Green  was  a  son  ^ 
of  the  Samuel  Green  of  Cambridge,  who  printed 
John  Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  who  even  had  business 
relations  with  the  great  Eobert  Boyle,  at  that  time' 
Governor  of  the  corporation  in  England  for  propa- 
gating the  Gospel  among  the  Indians.  This  Samuel 
Green,  as  a  mere  lad,  had  come  over  with  Governor 
Winthrop  in  1630,  and  ^'used  to  tell  his  children 
that,  upon  their  first  coming  ashore,  he  and  several 
others  were  for  some  time  glad  to  lodge  in  empty 
casks,  to  shelter  them  from  the  weather.''^  Such 
stories  of  his  father  and  his  father's  friends  would 
Bartholomew  Green  undoubtedly  have  to  tell  young 
Kneeland.  Both  were  members  of  the  Old  South 
Church,  where  Green  was  deacon  for  many  years. 

The  principles  of  Bartholomew  Green,  also,  would 

'  In  1723,  as  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained. 

®  See  The  Boston  News-Letter,  January  4,  1733. 


'THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOUKNAL      35 

have  their  undoubted  influence;  for  we  are  told  of^ 
his  ^^eminency  for  a  strict  observing  the  sabbath; 
his  household  piety;  his  keeping  close  and  diligent 
to  the  work  of  his  calling;  his  meek  and  peaceable 
spirit ;  his  caution  of  publishing  anything  offensive, 
light,  or  hurtful;  and  his  tender  sympathy  to  the 
poor  and  afflicted/'^  Kneeland  certainly  acquired 
a  meek  and  peaceable  spirit,  and  with  it  ''a  caution 
of  publishing  anything  offensive  or  hurtful. ' '  The  ^ 
Journal  had  a  distinguished  and  successful  career. 
Four  months  after  the  establishment  of  his  paper, 
Samuel  Kneeland  formed  a  partnership  with  Timo- 
thy Green,  a  grand-nephew  of  Bartholomew  Green. 
This  young  man's  grandfather,  a  son  of  the  Cam- 
bridge Samuel  Green,  had  been  one  of  the  earliest 
Boston  printers,  and  his  work  had  been  under  the 
supervision  of  the  famous  Samuel  Sewall,  who,  for 
a  time,  controlled  the  press  rights  in  Boston.^^ 
Sewall  had  a  flourishing  book  store  at  the  time,  and 
must,  in  many  ways,  have  brought  literary  matters 
to  his  printer's  notice.  Evidence  that  the  latter  had 
used  these  opportunities  exists  in  the  complimentary 
reference  to  him  in  John  Dunton's  Life  and  Errors. 
Dunton,  a  London  bookseller,  visited  Boston  in  1686* 
and  reported  his  delight  in  Samuel  Green's  inter- 
esting conversation.^^     In  brief,  the  new  firm,  Knee- 

« Ibid. 

^°  See  Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol,  V, 
p.  86. 

"  "  I  contracted  a  great  friendship  for  this  man ;  to  name  his  trade 
will  convince  the  world  he  was  a  man  of  good  sense  and  understanding; 
he  was  so  facetious  and  obliging  in  his  conversation  that  I  took  a  great 
delight  in  his  company,  and  made  use  of  his  house  to  while  away  my 
melancholy  hours."     Dunton's  Life  and  Errors,  London,  1705,  p.  129. 


36       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

land  and  Green,  had  closer  and  more  direct  tradi- 
tions of  English  culture  than  was  usual  in  the  pro- 
vincial period.  Kneeland  soon  left  the  actual  print- 
ing business  to  his  new  partner,  young  Timothy 
Green,  while  he  himself  opened  a  book  shop  in  King 
Street.  The  advantages  of  a  book  store  to  the  lit- 
erary side  of  the  paper  will  be  obvious  at  once.  Any 
writer  for  the  Journal  had  access  to  some  sort  of 
secular  literature. 

"We  have  said  that  Samuel  Kneeland  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Old  South  Church.  Probably  young  Timothy 
Green  would  be  identified  with  the  same  body,  also, 
since  his  Uncle  Bartholomew  was  a  deacon  there. 
What  more  natural  than  that  they  should  interest 
their  pastor,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  in  the  new 
undertaking!  One  of  Thomas  Prince's  friends  was 
the  Rev.  Mather  Byles.  Hence  the  ^^  Select  number 
of  Gentlemen,  who  have  had  the  happiness  of  a  lib- 
eral Education '*  willing  to  give  their  services  to  a 
new  literary  journal  that  should  be  without  offence 
to  religion.  This  connection  of  events,  simple  though 
it  is,  has  not  seemed  to  occur  to  historians  of  the 
colonial  press,  and  would  remain  an  unsupported 
assumption  were  it  not  for  the  definite  tradition 
voiced  by  Isaiah  Thomas  in  his  History  of  Printing 
in  America}^  He  named  Thomas  Prince,  Judge 
Danforth,  and  Mather  Byles,  as  editors  and  even 
correctors  of  the  Press.  The  literary  output  of  the 
Journal  confirms  this  tradition,  as  well  as  the  entire 
naturalness    of    the    situation.     Moreover,    Isaiah 

"  See  Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society^  Vol.  VI, 
pp.  41-42. 


,THE    NEW    ENGLAND    WEEKLY    JOURNAL  37 

Thomas  is  an  excellent  authority  in  matters  of  this 
kind.  Though  his  History  of  Printing  was  not  pub- 
lished until  1810,  he  had  been  a  printer's  apprentice 
in  Boston  himself  from  1756  to  1766,  and  had  had 
many  pleasant  talks  with  the  old  printer  Gamaliel 
Rogers,  who  gave  the  lad  kindly  advice.  Now 
Gamaliel  Rogers,  after  an  apprenticeship  with  Bar- 
tholomew Green,  had  actually  begun  business  for 
himself  by  1729.  Later  on,  he  became  a  publisher 
of  note.  It  is  incredible  that  he  should  have  been 
ignorant  of  the  journalistic  traditions  of  his  early 
years,  and  equally  incredible  that  he  should  not 
have  enjoyed  talking  of  them  to  the  young  lad, 
Isaiah  Thomas,  who  paid  him  the  compliment  of 
visiting  him  so  frequently.  In  any  case,  Isaiah 
Thomas,  in  his  later  career  as  editor  and  antiquar- 
ian, would  be  more  than  likely  to  voice  a  trustworthy 
tradition.  Later  histories  of  the  colonial  press 
merely  follow  him  in  the  matter.^ ^ 

In  Mather  Byles  and  Thomas  Prince  a  modified 
ecclesiasticism  is  already  evident.  They  were  not 
so  purely  and  entirely  devoted. to  theological  con- 
tent, and  theological  interpretation,  as  the  genera- 
tion before  them  had  been.  Cotton  Mather,  for  in- 
stance, the  uncle  of  Mather  Byles,  read,  as  we  have 
seen,  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  even  paraphrasing 
sections  of  it,^^  to  fit  Massachusetts  conditions,  and 

"  See  Specimens  of  Newspaper  Literature,  by  Joseph  T.  Bucking- 
ham, pp.  100-111 ;  also,  Journalism  in  the  United  States,  by  Frederic 
Hudson,  p.  76;  also  Press  and  Literature  of  the  Provincial  Period  by 
Delano  Goddard,  in  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  II,  chap.  XV, 
pp.  399-400. 

"  See  his  Magnalia  Christi,  II,  56S  ff.,  where  Paradise  Lost,  VI,  386- 
393,  is  changed  to  suit  his  purpose,  entirely  a  theological  and  religioua 
one. 


38       LITEKAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

to  draw  a  moral ;  but  he  never  dreamed  of  discussing 
the  art  of  Paradise  Lost,  or  of  imitating  it  for  mere 
pleasure,  either  to  his  hearers  or  to  himself.  His 
nephew,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  Pope  enthusiast 
and  a  Pope  imitator,  writing  such  poems  as  Com- 
mencement, in  mock  heroic  couplets,  intended,  at 
least,  to  give  pleasure,  beginning  ''I  sing  the  day, 
bright  with  peculiar  charms ' '  and  continuing  in  such 
a  strain  as  this : 

And  now  the  sprightly  Fair  approach  the  glass, 
To  heighten  every  feature  of  the  face.^^ 

The  attempt  at  the  style  of  The  Rape  of  the  Lock  is 
evident.  Two  other  short  poetical  flights  in  the 
little  volume,  A  Collection  of  Poems  by  Several 
Hands  are  very  interesting  as  establishing  Mather 
Byles's  enthusiasm  for  Pope.     They  are  as  follows: 

To 


Desiring  to  borrow  Pope's  Homer. 
From  a  Lady. 

''The  muse  now  waits  from  's  hands  to  press 

Homer's  high  page,  in  Pope's  illustrious  dress; 
How  the  pleas 'd  goddess  triumphs  to  pronounce 
The  names  of ,  Pope,  Homer,  all  at  once ! ' ' 

The  Answer 

•         •         •         • 

''Go,  my  dear  Pope,  transport  th 'attentive  fair, 
And  sooth,  with  winning  harmony  her  ear. 

"In  ^  Collection  of  Poems  hy  Several  Hands,  Boston,  1744.  A 
copy  may  be ,  seen  in  the  library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society. 


,THE    NEW    ENGLAND    WEEKLY    JOUKNAL  oJ9 

'Twill  add  new  graces  to  thy  heav'nly  song, 
To  be  repeated  by  her  gentle  tongue. 


Old  Homer's  shade  shall  smile  if  she  commend, 
And  Pope  be  proud  to  write,  as to  lend." 

Now  in  the  small,  yellow  copy  of  this  book  of 
verses  in  the  possession  of  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society,  the  blank  spaces  shown  above  are 
filled  out  in  ink,  in  a  handwriting  of  long  ago,  with 
the  name  Byles.  Evidently  we  have  here  a  trust- 
worthy tradition,  especially  in  conjunction  with 
Byles 's  long-known  letter  to  Pope,  full  of  extrava- 
gant and  even  fulsome  praises. ^^  Additional  evi- 
dence of  his  devotion  to  Pope  as  well  as  to  Addison, 
will  be  found  on  examining  the  Journal.  Enough 
has  been  given  to  establish  our  point  as  to  Mather 
Byles 's  purely  literary  interests. 

Thomas  Prince,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  student 
of  history.  His  unique  collection  of  New  England 
Pamphlets  has  already  been  noted,  as  well  as  his 
Chronological  History  of  Neiv  England,  which, 
though  it  began  with  Adam,  had,  on  the  whole,  less 
theological  purpose  than  the  Magnalia  Christi.  As 
to  his  religious  affiliations,  Prince  was  an  ardent 
champion  of  George  Whitefield,  and  therefore  an 
adherent  of  emotional  religion.  This  in  itself  ar- 
gued some  literary  quality,  according  to  the  famous 
dictum  of  the  London  bookseller  in  conversation 
with  Parson  Adams,  that,  although  sermons  as  a 
rule  were  poor  '^copy,''  he  would  ^^as  soon  print  one 
of  Whitefield 's  as  any  farce.  "^^ 

"See  Buckingham's  Specimens  of  Newspaper  Literature,  p.  110. 
"  See    The   Adventures    of   Joseph   Andrews,    by    Henry    Fielding. 
Sterling  Edition,  Chap.  XVII,  p.  95. 


40       LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

The  Speculations  announced  in  the  prospectus  of 
the  Journal  began  with  number  3,  April  10,  1727. 
They  have  not  remained  unnoticed  by  historians  of 
the  early  press.  Isaiah  Thomas,  in  his  History  of 
Printing, ^^  says:  '^During  the  first  year  of  the  Jour- 
nal, several  literary  gentlemen  furnished  it  with 
short  essays  on  miscellaneous  subjects/'  He  goes 
on  to  give  a  brief  account  of  the  essays,  but  no  anal- 
ysis, and  no  criticism.  He  credits  Mather  Byles 
with  ''many  of  the  poetical  and  other  essays, "^^  and 
notes  the  tradition  that  Judge  Danforth  and  Eev. 
Thomas  Prince  also  took  an  important  part  in  writ- 
ing for  the  paper,  and  even  in  editing  it. 

Buckingham,  in  his  Specimens  of  Neivspaper  Lit- 
erature, devotes  one  interesting  chapter^^  to  The 
New  England  Journal,  reprinting  the  first  three 
essays  with  this  warm  appreciative  comment :  ' '  The 
introductory  paper  ...  is  not  inferior  in  easy  and 
quiet  humor  to  those,  in  which  Steele,  Addison,  and 
Mackenzie  introduced  themselves  to  the  readers  of 
the  Tattler,  Spectator,  and  Mirror.  ...  In  his  next 
paper  the  writer  proceeds,  agreeably  to  the  example 
of  his  great  prototypes  of  the  Tattler  and  Specta- 
tor— then  in  the  height  of  their  popularity — to  give 
an  account  of  the  members  of  'the  Society.'  "  Sev- 
eral poems  from  the  Journal  are  reprinted  in  Buck- 
ingham's chapter,  and  attributed,  reasonably  enough, 
to  Mather  Byles,  together  with  an  Essay  on  Terror, 

"  See  Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  VT, 
p.  39. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  42. 

^  See  Specimens  of  Newspaper  Literature  with  personal  Memoirs, 
Anecdotes  and  Reminiscences,  by  Joseph  T.  Buckingham.  Boston, 
1852.     Vol.  I,  pp.  89-111. 


,THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOURNAL      41 

Several  of  the  essays  had  previously  been  repub- 
lished in  The  Emerald,  a  Boston  paper,  in  1807  and 
1808.  ^^Some  of  them,"  says  the  editor  of  The 
Emerald,  in  introducing  them  to  his  readers,  ^'are 
not  inferior  to  the  numbers  of  the  Spectator;  and 
their  writer  seems  to  follow,  and  not  sub  longo  in- 
tervallo,  the  footsteps  of  Addison."  He  conjectures 
that  they  were  written  by  some  ^^  English  gentleman 
of  education,  then  resident  here."  Isaiah  Thomas's 
information  as  to  the  authors  had  not  appeared  at 
that  time. 

Hudson's  Journalism  in  the  United  States  merely 
gives  a  brief  note,  based  on  previous  authorities.^^ 
One  or  two  interesting  new  suggestions  in  the  article 
by  Delano  Goddard,  on  The  Press  and  Literature  of 
the  Provincial  Period^^  will  be  noted  in  the  course 
of  this  discussion. 

So  then,  the^e  Journal  essays  have  been  mentioned 
as  imitations  of  Addison.  They  have  never  been 
really  examined,  however,  either  for  stylistic  evi- 
dence, or  for  definite  literary  references.  Such  an 
examination  may  perhaps  make  a  slight  change  in 
the  history  of  American  Literature.  The  dates  of 
its  conscious  beginnings  will  be  set  backward  a  num- 
ber of  years. 

The  opening  sentence  of  the  first  essay  in  the 
Journal  has  been  given,  in  a  previous  chapter.^^ 
The  fictitious  author  of  ensuing  Speculations  intro- 
duces himself  very  fitly  as  an  imitator.  He  can 
personate  animals  or  men,  at  will,  and  intends  to 

"  See  Journalism  in  the  United  States,  by  Frederic  Hudson,  p.  76. 
"  See  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  II,  chap.  XV. 
^  Vide  supra,  p.  29. 


42       LITEEARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

banter  a  folly  bj^  representing  it  as  in  a  glass.  First, 
he  will  give  an  account  of  himself,  ''and  this,''  he 
says,^^  "I  shall  do,  (as  an  ingenious  Author  whom 
I  am  now  imitating  has  admirably  expressed  it)  in 
a  very  clear  and  concise  manner.^'  Later  references 
in  the  Journal  prove  that  Addison  was  meant.^^ 
Eeaders  are  informed  that  they  may  address  the 
new  Spectator  of  men  and  manners,  under  the  name 
of  Proteus  Echo,  Esq.,  who,  by  a  rather  clumsy  de- 
vice, has  forgotten  his  own  name. 

The  contrast  between  Franklin's  Dogood  papers 
and  the  Proteus  Echo  Speculations  is  both  striking 
and  suggestive.  Not  only  is  young  widow  Dogood  a 
wide  variant  from  the  usual  type  of  Spectator,  but 
she  gives  in  her  own  person  the  unliterary  ideas 
intended  to  fit  homely  New  England  conditions. 
Proteus  Echo,  Esq.,  proceeds  to  form  a  club  in  very 
close,  and  very  exact  imitation  of  the  Spectator. 
As  to  his  speculations,  they  are  sometimes  ludi- 
crously inapt  in  the  Boston  of  1727,  as  when  he  is 
pleased  to  make  merry  over  the  farces  of  Dick  Grub- 
street,  ''whose  Plays  have  very  frequently  been  clapt 
upon  the  Stage,  and  as  often,  to  his  great  mortifica- 
tion, hissed  otf."^^  What  did  Boston  know  of  Dick 
Grubstreet's  plays,  or  of  Shakespeare's,  either,  for 
that  matter,  in  1727  ? 

The  club  or  "Society"  of  Proteus  Echo  is  ranged 
in  a  semi-circle  and  sketched  for  us  by  the  limner  in 
the  second  essay,  which  proceeds  exactly  as  the  sec- 
ond number  of  the  Spectator.    First  comes  the  Hon- 

"  See  The  Neiv  England  Weehly  Journal,  No.  3,  April  10,  1727. 

^^Ibid.,  Nos.  12,  16,  17. 

=*  Ibid.,  No.  12,  June  12,  1727. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOURNAL      43 

ourable  Charles  Gravely,  a  merchant  of  consider- 
able eminence,  who  ^^has  traded  for  many  Thousand 
of  Pounds  in  Wit  and  Eloquence/'  Apart  from  this 
ambitious  sally  in  word  playing,  the  Honourable 
Charles  Gravely  hardly  exists.  He  does  not  appear 
in  the  following  papers. 

Mr.  Timothy  Blunt  represents  a  distinct,  and 
hitherto  unnoted  attempt  to  create  a  New  England 
version  of  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley.  He  lives  at  some 
distance  from  the  town  of  Boston,  but  rides  in  every 
week,  often  bringing  his  ^'Wallet  ballanced  with  two 
Bottles  of  Milk,  to  defray  his  necessary  Expenses.'' 
This  last  is  a  Yankee  touch  indeed.  Imagine  Sir 
Roger  economizing  on  a  midday  meal!  The  sketch 
of  Mr.  Timothy  Blunt  continues:  ^'His  Periwigg  has 
been  out  of  the  Curl  ever  since  the  Revolution  and 
his  Dagger  and  Doublet  are  supposed  to  be  the 
rarest  Pieces  of  Antiquity  in  the  Country."  If  it 
had  not  been  for  an  unlucky  stroke  to  his  Intel- 
lectuals in  his  infancy,  "he  would  have  stood  the 
fairest  of  any  of  his  Contemporarys  to  have  found 
out  the  Philosopher's  Stone."  We  remember  how 
Sir  Roger  wore  "  a  coat  and  doublet  of  the  same  cut 
that  were  in  fashion  at  the  time  of  his  repulse."-^ 
Those  singularities  of  behavior  which  have  en- 
deared Sir  Roger  to  the  world,  came,  of  course,  from 
his  love  for  the  widow ;  but  they  were  no  less  a  slight 
"stroke  to  his  Intellectuals."  Both  characters  are 
represented  as  advanced  in  years.  Timothy  Blunt 
appears  once  again  in  the  essays,  when  Dick  Grub- 
street  complains  that  he  has  not  been  admitted  to 

"  See  Spectator,  No.  2. 


44       LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

the  Society,  although  *'you  let  Timothy  Blunt  in/'^s 
Christopher  Careless  and  Will  Bitterly  are  just 
what  their  names  suggest.  Mr.  Careless  has  ^^by  a 
close  and  vigorous  Application  to  Business,  sunk  a 
very  plentiful  Patrimony,  and  reduced  his  Fortune 
to  a  level  with  his  Ambition.'^  Mr.  Bitterly  is  a 
direct  descendant  of  Old  Diogenes. 

"And  now  comes  the  wonderful  Mr.  Honeysuckle,  the 
Blossom  of  our  Society,  and  the  beautiful  Ornament  of 
Litterature ;  a  Person  of  most  extravagant  Imagination,  and 
one  who  lives  perpetually  upon  Tropes  and  Similes.  In 
his  common  conversation  he  stalks  in  Metaphor  and 
Hyperbole." 

Mr.Will  Honeycomb,  himself,  translated  into  a  poet ! 
This  direct  imitation  has  never  been  commented 
upon.  Will  has  become  something  of  a  painter,  too, 
in  his  apotheosis,  and  has  obliged  the  club  room 
with  ^'the  Draught  of  a  Beau,  a  Clown  and  a 
Coquet. ' '  Still  keeping  his  old  character  in  a  milder 
way,  he  is  mentioned  once  again,  casually,  in  a  later 
essay,  when  Proteus  talks  and  walks  with  Mr. 
Honeysuckle.^^ 

Last  of  all  there  are  the  two  divines  who  ^^some- 
times do  us  the  Honour  to  set  with  us  half  an  Hour, 
and  improve  us  with  their  Excellent  Conversation. ' ' 
Undoubtedly  we  have  here  a  reflection  of  the  good 
clergyman  who  sometimes  visited  the  Spectator 
Club,^^  as  well  as  possibly  a  literal  statement  of  fact. 
Mr.  Delano  Goddard^s  interesting  suggestion  that 

=='  See  The  New  England  WeeUy  Journal,  No.  12,  June  12,  1727. 
"  Ibid.,  No.  38,  December  25,  1727. 
»°  See  The  Spectator,  No.  2. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOURNAL      45 

tlae  two  clergymen  of  Proteus  Echo's  club  repre- 
sent Mather  Byles  and  Thomas  Prince,  is  both  in- 
genious and  probable.^^  Why,  if  not  in  deference  to 
some  literal,  present  circumstance,  should  the  one 
clergyman  of  Addison,  have  become  two?  We  can 
be  further  guided  by  the  very  important  fact,  men- 
tioned in  the  closing  sentence  of  the  second  Journal 
essay  which  we  have  been  so  long  considering: 
^ '  These  Gentlemen  will  have  no  inconsiderable  Hand 
in  these  Weekly  Entertainments. '*  Since  we  have 
every  reason  to  believe  that  Mather  Byles  and 
Thomas  Prince  often  wrote  for  the  Journal,  they 
are  quite  probably  intended  here,  even  if  one  of 
them  wrote  the  passage. 

From  this  slight  sketch  of  Proteus  Echo's  Club, 
it  will  be  evident  that  the  characters  show  some  good 
strokes.  Timothy  Blunt  and  Mr.  Honeysuckle  are 
real  creations,  and  they  represent  a  conscious  at- 
tempt at  a  purely  imaginative  literature  for  its  own 
sake,  thirty  years  before  the  first  conscious  attempt 
recognized  in  Professor  Barrett  Wendell's  Literary 
History  of  America.  That  most  of  the  characters 
in  Proteus  Echo's  Club  did  not  really  live,  will  be 
readily  admitted.  They  did  not  ^'get  over  the  foot- 
lights." The  imagination  which  conceived  them 
could  not  realize  them,  partly  perhaps  because  they 
were  studied  from  literature  and  not  from  life.  Yet 
surely  it  makes  some  slight  difference  in  the  story 
of  New  England  literature  that  some  of  its  orthodox 

^  See  Press  and  Literature  of  the  Provincial  Period^  in  Memorial 
History  of  Boston,  Vol.  IT,  chap.  XV,  p.  399,  **  Tradition  has  never 
conjectured  to  whom  these  characters  belonged,  if  indeed  they  were 
not  entirely  imaginary. ' '     He  hazards  the  suggestion  given  above. 


46       LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

clergy  bent  their  stiff,  unused  imaginations  for  art 's 
sake  in  1727. 

The  third  essay  is  excellent.  The  Art  of  Incor- 
rect Writing  is  its  title,  and  Mr.  George  Brimstone's 
Panegyrick  on  Beacon-Hill  becomes  the  text  for 
much  good  satire  on  bombast.  The  number  of  Ce- 
lestials, Immortals,  Everlastings,  Infinites,  Un- 
boundeds,  in  Mr.  Brimstone's  love  poetry  are  all 
counted,  while  his  Poetical  Description  of  a  Game 
at  Push  Pin,  given  in  full,  offers  a  fine  burlesque  on 
heroic  extravagance.  The  essay,  including  the 
verse,  was  probably  written  by  Mather  Byles,  since 
we  have  Isaiah  Thomas's  authority  for  supposing 
that  Byles  wrote  many  of  the  poetical  essays, ^^  and 
the  further  authority  of  The  New  England  Journal 
itself  for  the  fact  that  one  of  its  contributors  wrote 
the  poetry,^^  and  signed  himself  with  a  letter  of  the 
word  Musae.^^  His  verse  is,  of  course,  always  imi- 
tating Pope;  we  shall  see  in  a  later  essay  that  he 
avowed  Pope  as  the  master  of  his  muse.  The  ideas 
of  simplicity,  naturalness,  and  conciseness  of  dic- 
tion, however,  he  certainly  took  in  part  from  Addi- 
son. The  prose  style  of  his  essays,  on  the  whole, 
follows  these  lines.  Wlien  he  came  to  write  serious 
poetry,  such  as  an  Elegy  on  George  I,  unfortunately, 
Mather  Byles  could  more  than  equal  his  own  Mr. 
Brimstone  on  Beacon  Hill,  or  the  wonderful  Mr. 
Honeysuckle. 

Essays    purely    moral    soon    follow,    naturally 

^  See   History   of  Printing   in   America.     In    Transactions   of   the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  40-42. 

^  See  The  New  England  Weekly  Journal,  No.  52,  Apr.  1,  1728. 
»*  Ibid. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOURNAL      47 

enough,  and,  at  intervals,  appear  throughout  the 
entire  series.  Even  the  Spectator  has  its  full  share 
of  these.  The  remarkable  thing  about  the  didactic 
efforts  of  Proteus  Echo  is  that,  either  from  the 
benign  influence  of  the  Spectator  or  from  a  certain 
milder  theological  quality  already  stealing  over  New 
England  thought,  they  are  usually  ethical  rather 
than  dogmatic  or  even  religious.  They  are  on  merit, 
on  covetousness  or  idleness,  even  on  the  vapors,^^ 
concerning  which  there  is  one  very  sensible  essay, 
analyzing  the  causes  of  the  affliction  as  loose  living, 
idleness,  solitude,  rattle  of  tongue,  immoderate 
laughter,  and  recommending  the  wholesome  cure  of 
work  for  the  benefit  of  the  world, — and,  wonder  of 
wonders,  some  innocent  diversion  if  we  feel  the 
vapors  stealing  over  us !  Could  the  New  England 
clergy  have  countenanced  such  an  idea! 

In  the  sixth  essay^*^  some  admirer  of  Mather  Byles 
wrote  a  poem  on  Eternity — ''Dedicated  to  the  In- 
structor of  my  Muse,"  and  praising  Byles  very 
literally  to  the  skies;  Byles  responded  in  the  ninth 
essay^^  with  a  poem  in  which  he  disclaimed  all  credit, 
giving  the  praise  of  his  entire  poetic  performance  to 
Pope,  and  hailing  his  master  in  terms  of  extrava- 
gant, almost  fulsome  eulogy.  Pope's,  he  said,  were 
the  rules  of  poetry  which  he  followed. 

* '  0  Pope !  thy  fame  is  spread  around  the  sky 
Far  as  the  waves  can  flow,  far  as  the  winds  can  fly ! " 

This,  of  course,  is  direct  evidence  of  the  following 
of  Pope  in  all  Byles 's  verse. 

*  See  Essay  No.  46,  New  England  Weekly  Journal. 

**  See  The  New  England  WeeMy  Journal,  No.  8,  May  15,  1727. 

"Ibid.,  No.  11,  June  5,  1727. 


48       LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Equally  direct  is  the  confession  that  lie  and  his 
friends  who  wrote  the  prose  essays,  followed  Addi- 
son. In  the  tenth  essay  of  the  series,  appeared  a 
ridiculous  letter  from  Dick  Grubstreet,^^  a  hack 
writer,  accusing  the  editor  of  stealing  a  great  many 
strokes  of  low  humor  from  Dick's  works.  Proteus 
answered  grandly:  ^^I  was  defending  myself  from 
his  Imputation  by  the  Name  and  Authority  of  Mr. 
Addison,  when  at  once  he  was  struck  into  Silence.'' 

The  fourteenth  essay^^  is  modeled  directly  on  the 
famous  Spectator  number  34,  in  which  the  members 
of  the  club  have  a  chance  to  criticise  the  paper.  All 
sorts  of  different  trades  criticise  Proteus  Echo,  but 
without  the  exquisite  humor  of  Addison's  charac- 
ters. Instead,  there  are  dull  puns.  The  Shoemaker 
hopes  that  every  page  may  be  his  last,  and  so  on. 
Finally  it  is  the  Scholar's  turn.  We  will  hear 
Proteus  himself  on  this:  ^^I  have  been  Credibly  in- 
formed of  a  Young  Scholar  who  has  given  himself 
the  Trouble,  in  all  Companies  to  demonstrate  by 
Plain,  undeniable  Arguments,  that  some  Papers  in 
the  Spectator,  Tatler,  or  Guardian  are  rather  better 
than  many  of  my  Journals,'^ 

In  the  next  essay,  the  fifteenth.  Will  Pedant  writes 
a  saucy  letter,  saying,  ^'For  your  Mortification  I'll 
assure  you,  you  don't  write  so  well  as  the  Spectator, 
tho'  I  can  a  great  deal  better." 

Again  in  the  twenty-eighth  essay,  we  have  a  letter 
to  Proteus  Echo,  beginning: 

^  See  The  New  England  Weekly  Journal,  No.  12,  June  12,  1727. 
""Ibid.,  No.  16,  July  10,  1727. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOURNAL       49 
Sir: 

The  Spectator,  Tatler,  and  Guardian,  whose  Labours 
you  profess  to  imitate,  have  been  very  particular  in  the 
secret  History  of  Clubs. 

The  letter  continues  with  a  brief  account  of  the 
clubs  mentioned  by  the  Spectator,  such  as  the  Con- 
federation of  the  Kings,  the  Association  of  the 
Georges,  the  Company  of  the  Duelists,  the  Hum- 
drum Club,  the  Fat  Club,  the  Kit-Cat  Club,  the  Mum 
Club,  the  Two-penny  Club  and  the  famous  Everlast- 
ing Club."*^  '^  And  no  sooner  did  a  Ring  of  handsome 
Faces  smile  round  a  Table,  but  the  Spectator  him- 
self was  envious  enough  to  confront  them,  and  with- 
out any  more  ado,  thrust  his  short  visage  into  a 
Circle  of  Scare-crows.  Indeed  so  fond  was  his  Taci- 
turnity of  these  neighborly  Assemblies  and  such  a 
universal  Patron  of  them,  that  he  has  by  indisputable 
Right  merited  the  Appelation  of  King  of  Clubs.  ^' 

Could  ami:hing  show  closer  reading  of  Addison 
and  Steele's  literary  periodicals!  Not  only  is  the 
acquaintance  with  the  general  content,  ideas  and 
characters  evident,  but  the  very  phraseology  is  in- 
teresting as  compared  with  that  of  the  Spectator, 
who  says  in  his  first  number :  ' '  Sometimes  I  am  seen 
thrusting  my  head  into  a  round  of  politicians  at 
Will's,  and  listening  with  great  attention  to  the  nar- 
ratives that  are  made  in  those  little  circidar  audi- 
ences/' 

But  the  interesting  matter  in  the  letter  to  Proteus 
Echo  has  not  been  exhausted  yet.  Its  whole  point  is 
the  description  of  a  Laughing  Club,  whose  promi- 

*°  See  The  Spectator,  No.  9. 
5 


50      LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

nent  members  are  Mr.  Gorgon  Grin  and  Mr.  Titus 
Titter.  The  chief  business  of  members  seems  to  be 
that  of  laughing  at  their  own  jokes.  And  the  whole 
is  signed  ' '  Your  humble  Servant,  Jack  Sneer. ' '  E\d- 
dently  this  entire  letter  was  thought  to  be  a  piece  of 
delightful  pleasantry  in  Addison's  manner.  How 
far  it  actually  succeeded  in  attaining  the  Addisonian 
charm,  the  reader  may  be  left  to  determine,  since 
literary  accomplishment  is  not  for  the  moment,  of 
main  importance ;  we  must  not  forget  to  notice,  how- 
ever, that  Gorgon  Grin  is  a  reflection  of  the  grinning 
cobbler  who  won  the  prize  for  grinning  in  the  match 
described  in  the  Spectator.^^ 

If  it  seemed  worth  while  to  make  a  word  for  word 
study  of  the  Journal  essays  with  the  Tatler,  the 
Guardian,  and  the  Spectator  in  hand,  many  actual 
verbal  correspondences  could  probably  be  established 
beyond  question.  Some  of  these  have  already  been 
indicated.  But  since  the  direct  and  avowed  purpose 
of  the  papers  is  so  clear  that  Proteus  Echo  is  actu- 
ally often  addressed  as  Mr.  Imitator,^^  the  further 
task  of  establishing  verbal  proof  is  unnecessary. 
What  we  want  to  know  is  the  method  of  using  a 
literary  model.  Sometimes  the  Journal  writer 
simply  takes  the  same  kind  of  subject,  such  as  the 
description  of  a  club,  or  some  form  of  satire  on 
absurd  contemporary  customs;  in  that  case  the 
thought,  as  well  as  the  manner  of  the  original,  is 
likely  to  appear.  Sometimes,  however,  we  have  an 
odd,  unexpected  use  of  a  phrase  or  an  incident  from 

"No.  173. 

"  See  The  New  England  WeeTcly  Journal,  Nos.  17,  22. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOURNAL      51 

the  Spectator,  in  the  midst  of  a  highly  moral  dis- 
course, of  a  totally  different  order.    It  is  as  if  the 
Eeverend  Mather  Byles  were  seeking  illustrations 
for    his    Sunday   morning    sermon,    and    naturally 
turned  his  week's  reading  to  account.    An  instance 
of  this  may  be  found  in  the  essay  on  the  merciful  un- 
certainty of  death  in  the  Jounial:'^^  ''I  know  not  by 
what  happy  Providence  it  is,"  the  essay  begins,  and 
goes  on  to  make  the  general  point  that  we  should 
adore  the  Creator  for  concealing  the  manner  of  our 
death.     This  leads  to  the  general  subject  of  dying, 
and  we  are  told  the  ^'well  known  Story  of  the  Lady 
who  bled  to  death  by  the  Prick  of  a  Needle  at  her 
Work."    The  moral  essayist  has  ''often  beheld  her 
Statue  in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  which  is  emblemat- 
ically intimated  the  Manner  of  her  dying."     We 
should  be  fairly  certain  by  this  time  that  our  author 
had  read  of  Sir  Eoger's  visit  to  Westminster  Abbey, 
with  the  Spectator,^^  on  the  happy  occasion  when 
this  very  statue  was  pointed  out  to  Sir  Roger,  and 
he  wondered  that  "Sir   Richard  Baker   has   said 
nothing  of  her  in  his  Chronicle."    But  as  if  to  make 
assurance  doubly  sure,  Mather  Byles,  or  whoever 
wrote  the  Journal  essay,  called  the  unhappy  lady  a 
''Martyr    to    Diligence    and    good    Housewifery." 
Addison's  phrase  is  "Martyr  to  good  Housewifery." 
Another  edifying  essay  on  Envy  of  the  Great^^ 
resolves  itself  into  Patrick  Henry's  theme  in  a  novel 
form.     Caesar  had  his  Brutus  and  Cassius,  we  are 
told,  Virgil  his  "vile  Obloquies,"  and  even  the  Ta^Zer 

"  Ibid.,  No.  20. 

**  See  The  Spectator,  No.  329. 

"See  The  New  England  Weefcly  Journal,  No.  20. 


52       LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPEKS 

and  Spectator  could  not  escape!  ^'The  Tatler  was 
writ  in  too  fine  a  spirit,"  the  essay  continues,  ^'and 
too  much  thrown  out  of  the  common  road  of  think- 
ing, not  to  alarm  the  Men  of  little  Genius,  while  the 
Spectator  which  will  be  admired  by  Posterity  could 
not  escape  the  impotent  Lashes  of  the  Examiner/' 
So  the  paean  of  tribute  and  admiration  goes.  In 
one  way  or  another,  we  meet  traces  of  it  every- 
where. 

Many  of  Mather  Byles's  poems  were  published  in 
the  Journal  before  they  were  gathered  together  for 
the  little  volume  of  1744;  such  are  the  Verses 
ivritten  in  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,'^^  the  Elegy  of 
George  //^  Belinda ,  a  Pastoral -y"^^  other  poems  pub- 
lished in  the  Journal  and  almost  certainly  his,  are 
the  Sequel  of  C ommencement,'^^  the  God  of  Tem- 
pest,^^  a  paraphrase  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fourth 
Psalm,^^  a  Congratulatory  Poem,^^  addressed  to 
Governor  Burnet,  who  had  just  been  appointed. 
Some  of  these  effusions  have  the  pompous  flourish 
of  his  serious  heroic  style,  while  some,  like  Belinda, 
and  Commencement,  effect  the  gay  mock-heroic;  but 
all  alike  imitate  Pope.     Even  when  he  is  writing 

*^  See  The  New  England  WeeMy  Journal,  No.  22,  August  14,  1727. 

"Ibid.,  No.  24,  August  28,  1727, 

*"  Ibid.,  No.  54,  April  1,  1728. 

"Ibid.,  No.  15,  July  3,  1727. 

^Ibid.,  No.  33.  Six  stanzas  of  this  poem  appeared  in  Dr.  Belk- 
nap's collection  of  Sacred  Poetry,  and  are  there  attributed  to  Mather 
Byles. 

^'  Ibid.,  No.  35. 

''-  Ibid.,  No.  71.  See  Drake,  History  of  Boston,  pp.  581-582 ;  Kettell, 
Specimens  of  American  Poetry ;  Memorinl  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  II, 
chap.  XV,  p.  399,  note. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOURNAL      53 

verses  in  his  Paradise  Lost,  showing  his  admiration 
of  Milton,  it  would  be  hard  to  find  many  traces  of  its 
effect  on  his  own  poetry:  and  we  have  seen  his 
acknowledgment  of  Pope  as  his  master.  The  last  of 
the  Proteus  Echo  essays,  the  fifty-second,  in  the 
Journal  of  April  1,  1728,  announces  with  a  flourish, 
the  new  book,  ^'now  preparing  for  the  Press,'' 
namely  A  Miscellany  of  Poems,  "by  several  Hands, 
and  upon  Several  Occasions:  some  of  which  have 
already  been  published,  and  received  the  Approba- 
tion of  the  best  judges,  with  many  more,  very  late 
Performances,  of  equal  if  not  superior  Beauty, 
which  have  never  yet  seen  the  Light.  Any  ingenious 
gentlemen  may  contribute  toward  its  publication  by 
sending  to  Mr.  Daniel  Henchman,  or  the  Publisher 
of  this  Paper. ' '  The  book  is  that  same  little  collec- 
tion from  which  we  have  so  often  quoted,  and  the 
advertisement  furnishes  one  more  clear  proof  of  the 
close  connection  between  Mather  Byles  and  the  pub- 
lishers, Kneeland  and  Green. 

The  fifty-second  essay  was  announced  in  the  Jour- 
nal as  "the  last  piece  which  will  be  published  by  the 
gentlemen  who  begun  and  have  till  now  supplied 
this  paper."  Yet  they  evidently  continued  their  edi- 
torial services,^^  and  the  essay  certainly  remained 
for  many  years  a  main  feature  of  the  Journal's 
front  page.  Such  essays  in  the  later  years  are  not 
always  linked  together,  of  course,  by  a  fiction  like 
that  of  Proteus  Echo  and  his  club;  but  some  of  the 
later  attempts  are  just  as  well  written  in  themselves. 

^  See  Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  VT, 
p.  41. 


54       LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

One  series  of  eighteen,  beginning  January  6,  1729, 
has  been  traditionally  ascribed  to  Governor  Burnet. 
Isaiah  Thomas's  reasons  for  accepting  the  ascrip- 
tion seem  to  be  sound  enough.^^  He  had  seen 
a  file  of  the  Journaly  belonging  to  one  of  its  dis- 
tinguished first  editors,  with  an  index  written  in  the 
latter 's  own  hand;  and  in  this  index  the  eighteen 
numbers  in  question  are  listed  thus:  ^^Speculation — 
Gov'  No.  I,''  ^'No.  II,''  and  so  forth.  If  Governor 
Burnet  did  write  the  new  series,  he  proved  himself 
a  wielder  of  sensible  pedestrian  prose,  not  so  close 
to  Addison,  either  in  form  or  content,  as  the  fifty- 
two  essays  of  Proteus  Echo,  but  showing  a  large 
reading  in  the  philosophy  of  the  day,  and  a  consid- 
erable knowledge  of  literature.  His  seventh  paper^^ 
begins  characteristically  enough:  ^^Mr.  Addison  has 
given  us  a  Chain  of  entertaining  Thoughts  upon  the 
Instinct  of  Animals,  in  the  Spectators  No.  120,  and 
No.  121.  As  I  was  reading  these  Papers  over,  I  was 
led  to  think,  that  Instinct  was  not  confined  to  the 
lowest  Orders  of  Beings,  but  might  perhaps  take 
place  in  Human  Creatures  in  many  cases."  This 
far-away  philosophy  is  just  the  sort  of  thing  he 
would  draw  from  Addison,  instead  of  the  more 
human  elements;  that  is.  Governor  Burnet  was 
really  writing  Speculations^  in  the  exact  sense  of 
the  word. 

After  the  publication  of  the  Governor's  essays, 
we  find,  in  the  Journal  of  June  22,  1730,  a  high-flown 
discourse   on   the   '' spangled   concave"   above   us, 

^  See   History   of  Printing   in   America.     In    Transactions  of   th& 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  VI,  p.  40. 

®  See  The  New  England  WeeJcly  Journal,  March  10,  1729. 


,THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WEEKLY  JOURNAL      55 

treating  the  beauties  of  knowledge  in  general,  and 
the  injustice  of  its  being  denied  to  women.  All  peri- 
odicals that  followed  the  Spectator  took  an  interest 
in  women's  training  and  education,  confidently 
preaching  the  betterment  of  the  sex.  There  are 
essays  also  on  education  in  general,  on  the  poetry  of 
Horace,  on  emulation,  on  happiness,  on  business, 
and  kindred  subjects.  Who  wrote  them,  can  only  be 
dimly  guessed.  The  pastors  may  have  continued  to 
furnish  an  occasional  speculation.  Samuel  Knee- 
land  himself,  or  his  partner,  Timothy  Green,  after 
all  their  association  in  business  with  the  best  edu- 
cated men  in  Boston,  can  hardly  be  supposed  in- 
capable of  turning  off  a  neat  essay  upon  occasion. 
In  any  case,  they  had  the  wit  to  present  one  start- 
ling novelty  to  their  readers.  On  February  14, 
1732,  they  began  publishing  The  London  Merchant^ 
or  the  History  of  George  Barnivell,  without  naming 
the  author,  Lillo.  One  of  the  most  noteworthy  real- 
istic tragedies  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  thus 
reprinted  in  the  Puritan  stronghold  of  America, 
within  a  surprisingly  short  time  of  its  first  appear- 
ance. This  fact  seems  to  have  escaped  observation 
until  now.  Probably  a  stray  copy  of  the  play  had 
found  its  way  into  Kneeland  's  book-shop.  We  cannot 
suppose  that  it  had  a  place  in  the  Prince  or  Byles 
libraries!  Evidently  Boston  readers  were  rather 
more  liberal  in  their  tastes  than  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  think. 

But  the  need  of  inventing  amusement  from  liter- 
ary models  was  passing.  The  JournaVs  first  page 
gradually  became  a  reprint  of  selections  from  The 


66       LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Universal  Spectator,  The  Political  State,  The 
Weekly  Register,  The  London  Magazine,  Applehee^s 
Journal,  The  Free  Briton,  and  finally,  The  Gentle- 
man* s  Magazine.  Although  these  now  and  then  in- 
cluded a  selection  from  Steele,^^  or  Sir  William 
Temple,^ ^  or  once,  even,  from  Milton,^^  they  tended 
rather  to  discuss  contemporary  questions  of  polit- 
ical, economic,  or  scientific  importance.  That  is, 
The  Neiv  England  Journal  was  selecting  more  and 
more  the  material  appropriate  for  a  newspaper. 
When  its  publishers  bought  out  the  old  Boston  Ga- 
zette, in  1741,  and  combined  the  two  papers  into  one, 
the  resulting  Boston  Gazette  and  Weekly  Journal 
began  already  to  have  the  look  of  a  modern  news- 
paper. It  needed  only  the  establishment  of  the 
monthly  magazine  to  make  the  separation  from  lit- 
erary sources  complete. 

Henceforth  the  literary  periodical  would  be  one 
thing ;  the  newspaper  would  be  quite  another. 

"Steele's  Englishman^  No.  11,  is  quoted  in  the  Journal,  June  17, 
1734. 

"Sir  William  Temple's  Essay  on  Popular  Discontents  was  printed 
in  the  Free  Briton  of  June  8  and  15,  1732^  and  included  in  the  Jourrml 
of  Nov.  20,  1732. 

^^  Milton 's  passage,  ' '  Hail,  Wedded  Love, ' '  quoted  in  The  WeeTdy 
Begister  of  Sept.  30,  1732,  and  included  in  the  Journal  of  Feb.  5,  1733. 


CHAPTER  III 

^'The  Hue  and  Cby  Aftee  the  Busy-Body' ' 
Bradfokd's  American  Mercury 

It  is  now  time  for  us  to  return  to  the  fortunes  of 
that  brilliant  run-away  apprentice  of  James  Frank- 
lin, who  advertised  in  1723  for  *'a  likely  lad/' 
doubtless  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  his  printing  office. 
As  Paul  Leicester  Ford  has  put  it,  ^'A  likely  lad 
may  have  been  forthcoming,  but  the  likely  lad  was 
lost  to  Boston  for  all  time."^  The  thrilling  story 
of  his  next  six  years  is  known  to  every  school-child. 
Only  a  comment  or  two  will  be  needed  here. 

The  literary  output  of  these  years  in  no  way  jus- 
tified the  promise  of  the  Dogood  papers.  There 
stand  to  his  credit  between  1723  and  1729,  only  the 
so-called  ^^ wicked  tract"  on  Liberty  and  Necessity, 
a  dissertation  more  dull  even  than  wicked ;  the  Jour- 
nal of  his  Voyage  from  London  home  to  Philadel- 
phia; and  the  Rules  for  his  little  Junto.  Nothing 
could  be  clearer,  however,  than  the  continued  inten- 
sity of  his  literary  interests  during  those  varied  and 
exciting  years.  Apparently  he  selected  his  friends 
for  their  libraries  or  their  love  of  reading.  And 
when  writing  his  autobiography  years  afterwards, 
he  remembered  and  was  at  pains  to  note  the  little 
facts  that  establish  his  continued  passion  for  read- 
ing.    His  friend  Collins 's  library,  ''a  pretty  collec- 

^  In  his  Franklin  Bibliography,  p.  xv. 

57 


58       LITEKAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

tion  of  Mathematicks  and  natural  philosophy/ '^ 
was  to  go  by  boat  with  Franklin  to  New  York.  His 
chief  acquaintances  at  this  time  were  ^'.  .  .  all 
lovers  of  reading.  "^  One  of  them,  James  Ralph, 
besides  being  a  tolerable  versifier,  must  have  im- 
bibed along  with  Franklin's  Deism,  some  of  the  lat- 
ter's  ambition  to  write  prose,  for  when  the  two 
friends  were  looking  about  for  employment  in  Lon- 
don, Ralph  ^' proposed  to  Roberts,  a  publisher  in 
Paternoster  Row,  to  write  for  him  a  weekly  paper 
like  the  Spectator. '  '^  The  Philadelphia  library  grew 
out  of  the  mere  collecting  of  the  books  of  Franklin's 
club  into  one  room.^  His  very  original,  private 
manual  of  perfection  was  headed  by  a  quotation 
from  Addison's  Cato.^ 

Indeed,  long  after  Benjamin  Franklin  had  become 
the  great  man  of  affairs,  he  retained  his  warm  inter- 
est in  the  literary  models  of  his  youthful  days.  The 
little  pamphlet  which  he  wrote  and  distributed  in 
1749,  on  The  Education  of  Youth  in  Pennsylvania'^ 

^  See  Autobiography,  in  Writings  of  Benjamin  FranTclin,  ed  A.  H. 
Smyth,  Vol.  I,  p.  262. 

^Ibid.     The  entire  Autobiography  testifies  to  the  same  fact. 

*Ibid.,  p.  277. 

=  Ibid.,  p.  312. 

"Ibid.,  p.  331.  ''This  my  little  book  had  for  its  motto  these  lines 
from  Addison's  Cato: 

'Here  will  I  hold.     If  there's  a  power  above  us 
(And  that  there  is,  all  nature  cries  aloud 
Thro'  all  her  works),  he  must  delight  in  virtue; 
And  that  which  he  delights  in  must  be  happy. '  ' ' 

Act  V,  Sc.  I,  11.  15-19. 

^  Proposals  relating  to  the  Education  of  Youth  in  Pennsylvania,  1749. 


Bradford's  American   mercury  69 

proposed  that  English  grammar  be  taught  by  read- 
ing Tillotson,  Addison,  Pope,  Algernon  Sidney, 
Cato's  Letters;  his  plan  for  an  English  education 
to  be  adopted  in  the  Philadelphia  Academy,  sketched 
in  full  for  the  trustees  in  1750,^  gave  reading  lessons 
in  the  easier  Spectators  to  the  young  students  of  the 
second  class,  would  have  the  fifth  class  rework  the 
^'Sentiments  of  a  Spectator/^  in  Franklin's  own 
early  manner,  and  the  sixth  class  read  and  study 
Tillotson,  Milton,  Locke,  Addison,  Pope,  Swift,  the 
higher  papers  in  the  Spectator  and  Guardian ,  with 
translations  of  the  classics,  in  which  Franklin  took 
a  special  interest.  It  was  his  original  plan  of  an 
English  education  for  students  of  the  Academy,  that 
he  remembered  and  advocated  again  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three,  when  the  plans  of  the  trustees  were 
sadly  confused.^ 

Early  in  1729,  however,  Franklin  saw  a  profitable 
opportunity  to  compose  again  the  little  pieces  mod- 
eled on  the  Spectator,  such  as  he  had  formerly 
written  for  The  Neiv  England  Courant,  This  time 
he  wished  to  put  an  inconvenient  rival  out  of  busi- 
ness. The  story  need  be  given  here  only  in  bar- 
est outline.  Samuel  Keimer,  Franklin's  old  mas- 
ter in  his  first  years  in  Philadelphia,  having  heard 
that  his  former  journeyman  intended  to  establish  a 
newspaper,  hastened  to  forestall  him  by  issuing  the 
first  number  of  his  cumbrous  Universal  Instructor 

^See  Writings  of  Benjamin  FranJclin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  21. 

"  See  Observations  relative  to  the  Intentions  of  the  original 
Founders  of  the  Academy  in  Philadelphia,  1789.  In  Writings  of 
.Benjamin  Franlclin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  Vol.  X,  p.  9. 


60       LITEEARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

in  all  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  Pennsylvania  Gazette, 
December  28,  1728.  The  instruction  in  all  arts  and 
sciences  consisted  in  regular  extracts  from  Cham- 
bers's Universal  Dictionary ,^^  beginning  with  A  and 
going  steadily  on  toward  Z,  followed  in  each  issue 
by  a  weekly  instalment  of  Defoe's  Religious  Court- 
ship, which  is  introduced  with  a  flourish  in  the  Uni- 
versal Instructor, ^^  as  ^^a  scarce  and  delightful 
piece  of  History  called  Religious  Courtship,  which 
more  especially  regards  Young  People."  Although 
the  author  is  not  mentioned  by  name,  the  authorship 
of  Religious  Courtship  was  probably  no  secret  to 
Keimer,  who  was  a  personal  friend  as  well  as  an 
admirer  of  the  great  dissenter.  And  Keimer 's  ad- 
miration was  natural,  since  he  himself  had  been  a 
French  ^^ prophet,"  probably  a  Camisard  of  the 
Cevennes.^2  His  ignorance  and  fanaticism  have 
been  ridiculed  once  for  all  in  the  Autobiography,^^ 
yet  in  one  or  two  particulars  Franklin  seems  to  have 
done  him  scant  justice,  admitting  grudgingly,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  ''something  of  a  scholar. "^^  A 
diligent  search  through  the  publications  of  the  col- 
ony of  Pennsylvania  reveals  the  fact  that  Keimer, 
who  had  conducted  a  newspaper,  and  printed  pam- 
phlets on  the  Protestant  Succession,^  ^  in  London, 

"  Chambers 's  Universal  Dictionary  of  all  the  Arts  and  Sciences. 

"No.  18,  Feb.  24,  1729;  it  ran  through  No.  35,  filling  a  page  or 
more  each  week. 

^^  See  Writings  of  Benjamin  FranTclin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  Vol.  I,  p. 
257,  note. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  258,  and  passim. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  257. 

^'^  Such  as  The  Protestant  Jubilee :  A  Thanlcsgiving  Sermon  on  that 
Doubly  Bemarka'ble  Day,   The   Twentieth  of  January.     "Appointed 


Bradford's  American   mercury  61 

issued  a  number  of  by  no  means  uninteresting  re- 
prints from  bis  Philadelphia  press,  among  them 
Epictetus,  His  Morals,  in  1729,  and  Steele's  Crisis. 
Even  stray  connections  with  the  literary  world  are 
worth  noting  in  the  wilderness  of  colonial  treatises 
on  The  Fatal  Consequences  of  Unscriptural  Doc- 
trine or  Ttventy  Considerations  against  Sin. 

But  Franklin  seems  to  have  been  accurate  in  judg- 
ing Keimer  as  very  ignorant  in  his  business,  and  in 
ordinary  practical  affairs ;  certainly  it  was  not  diffi- 
cult for  Franklin  to  compose  something  more 
sprightly  than  the  Religious  Courtship.  He  began 
the  series  of  Busy-Body  essays,  and  sent  them  to 
the  Mercury,  Bradford's  long  established  paper,  to 
give  it  a  temporary  popularity  exceeding  that  of 
Keimer 's  Instructor.  The  vogue  of  the  new  Specta- 
tor of  men  and  manners  seems  to  have  been  immedi- 
ate, and  Franklin  was  able  to  buy  The  Universal 
Instructor  for  a  song,  after  it  had  dragged  through 
forty  numbers.  He  made  it  The  Pennsylvania  Ga- 
zette, of  deserved  fame. 

But  to  return  to  the  Busy-Body.  Franklin  was 
twenty-three  when  he  wrote  the  six  numbers  known 
to  be  his;  the  first  ^yq,  and  the  eighth.  He  never 
excelled  them  in  his  consciously  imitative  work. 
Later  papers,  such  as  the  famous  prefaces  to  Poor 
Richard,  represent  a  distinctly  more  self-realizing, 
native  humor,  closer  to  the  soil,  daringly,  deliber- 

for  Celebrating  the  Praises  of  God,  for  our  Wonderful  Deliverance, 
by  the  Happy  Accession  of  His  most  Gracious  Majesty  King  George 
to  the  Throne  of  Great  Britain,  when  we  were  just  at  the  brink  of 
Euin."  Printed  and  sold  by  S.  Keimer,  at  the  Printing  Press  in 
Paternoster  Eow,  1715. 


62       LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

ately  bourgeois.  Here  in  the  Busy-Body  he  is  stilly 
on  the  whole,  elegant,  lofty,  a  Censor  Mornm  as 
Isaac  Bickerstaff  in  the  Tatler  had  been  before  him. 
Eidentins  and  Eugenins,  Cato  and  Cretico,  Patience 
and  Titan  Pleiades  make  np  the  rather  impressive 
list  of  imaginary  characters,  pointing  various 
morals.  No  homely  Bridget  Saunders,  drawn  to  the 
life  that  Franklin  knew,  meets  us  with  ^^What 
a-peasecods !  ...  all  the  World  must  know  that  Poor 
Dick's  Wife  has  lately  taken  a  fancy  to  drink  a  little 
Tea  now  and  then.''^^  In  style,  also,  the  Busy-Body 
is  admittedly  very  close  to  Franklin's  favorite  lit- 
erary models,  the  Spectator  and  the  Tatler.  Pas- 
sages like  the  two  following  carry  their  own  evi- 
dence in  them. 

"One  of  the  greatest  Pleasures  an  Author  can  have,  is 
certainly  the  Hearing  his  Works  applauded.  The  hiding 
from  the  World  our  Names,  while  we  publish  our  Thoughts, 
is  so  absolutely  necessary  to  this  Self-Gratification,  that  I 
hope  my  Well-wishers  will  congratulate  me  on  my  Escape 
from  the  many  diligent  but  fruitless  Enquiries,  that  have 
of  late  been  made  after  me.  Every  Man  will  own,  That 
an  Author,  as  such,  ought  to  be  try'd  by  the  Merit  of  his 
Production  only;  but  Pride,  Party,  and  Prejudice  at  this 
Time  run  so  very  high,  that  Experience  shews  we  form  our 
Notions  of  a  Piece  by  the  Character  of  the  Author.  Nay, 
there  are  some  very  humble  Politicians  in  and  about  this 
City,  who  will  ask  on  which  Side  the  Writer  is,  before  they 
presume  to  give  their  Opinions  of  the  Thing  wrote.  This 
ungenerous  Way  of  Proceeding  I  was  well  aware  of  before 
I  publish 'd  my  first  Speculation,  and  therefore  concealed 
my  Name."^^ 

"  See  Preface  hy  Mistress  Saunders  to  Poor  Richard,  1738. 
"  Busy-Body,  No.  8,  March  27,  1729. 


BKADFORD's    AMERICAN     MERCUEY  63 

"There  are  little  Follies  in  the  Behaviour  of  most  Men, 
which  their  best  Friends  are  too  tender  to  acquaint  them 
with;  There  are  little  Vices  and  small  Crimes,  which  the 
Law  has  no  Regard  to  or  Remedy  for:  There  are  likewise 
great  Pieces  of  Villany  sometimes  so  craftily  accomplish 'd, 
and  so  circumspectly  guarded,  that  the  Law  can  take  no 
Hold  of  the  Actors.  All  these  Things,  and  all  Things  of 
this  Nature,  come  within  my  Province  as  Censor  :"^^ 

Of  course  Franklin  would  not  have  been  Franklin 
if  lie  had  sustained  this  high  tone  throughout  any 
series  of  essays.  The  flippant,  jaunty  insults  he  had 
learned  to  give  rivals  and  enemies  in  The  Neiv  Eng- 
land Courant  were  bound  to  mar  the  effect  of  his 
assumed  literary  decorum.  In  fact,  however  he 
might  assume  the  Spectator's  office  of  censuring 
small  follies,  the  aim  of  publishing  the  Busy-Body 
papers  was  very  different.  The  personal  sting  often 
lurks  in  the  careless  little  postscripts,  apparently 
so  pointless. 

As  to  the  actual  subject-matter  of  the  Busy-Body, 
Franklin  never  found  himself  in  the  predicament  of 
the  Spectator's  more  slavish  imitators, — a  predica- 
ment described  forcibly  enough  in  the  English  paper, 
Common-Sense,  June  11,  1737:  ''The  Spectator,  of 
moral  and  facetious  memory,  reformed  the  periwigs, 
the  canes,  and  the  sword-knots  of  the  fops;  nay,  he 
tripped  up  their  red  heels,  if  I  may  be  allowed  that 
expression.  ...  In  a  word,  whenever  I  take  up  the 
Spectator,  I  am  ready  every  minute  to  break  out 
into  the  same  exclamation  that  a  poet  of  Gascogny 
uttered  upon  reading  over  a  beautiful  ode  of  Horace. 

^^  Busy-Body,  No.  5,  March  4,  1728-29. 


64      LITEBARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL,  NEWSPAPEKS 

'D— n  these  ancients  (says  he),  they  have  stolen  all 
my  fine  thoughts. '  '  ^ 

The  Spectator  never  stole  any  of  Franklin's  best 
thoughts.  When  he  read  Addison's  charming  pa- 
pers on  women's  follies,  he  could  use  the  general 
idea,  which  he  undoubtedly  drew  from  the  Spectator 
and  the  Tatler,  to  create  vividly  realized  characters 
of  his  own,  such  as  Patience,  in  Busy-Body  Number 
4,  with  her  thrifty  little  shop  to  mind,  and  her  com- 
plaint of  impertinent  visitors  who  wasted  her  val- 
uable time.  The  very  notion  of  impertinent  visits 
he  may  have  taken  from  the  twenty-fourth  Specta- 
tor, where  Thomas  Kimbow's  letter  mentions  the 
grievance  in  a  very  different  connection.^''  He  could 
adapt  the  endless  essays  on  scandal  and  defamation 
in  the  Tatler  and  Spectator  to  his  own  private  ene- 
mies! From  Addison's  sober  remarks  on  laughter 
and  ridicule,^'^  he  probably  created  the  two  charac- 
ters Eidentius  and  Eugenius  in  the  second  Busy- 

^*''Mr.  Spectator,  if  you  have  kept  various  company,  you  know 
there  is  in  every  tavern  in  town  some  old  humorist  or  other,  who  is 
master  of  the  house  as  much  as  he  that  keeps  it.  The  drawers  are  all 
in  awe  of  him,  and  all  the  customers  who  frequent  his  company  yield 
him  a  sort  of  comical  obedience.  I  do  not  know  but  I  may  be  such  a 
fellow  as  this  myself.  But  I  appeal  to  you  whether  this  is  to  be 
called  a  club,  because  so  many  impertinents  will  break  in  upon  me, 
and  come  without  appointment. ' ' 

20 1 1  fpjj^  talent  of  turning  men  into  ridicule,  and  exposing  to  laughter 
those  one  converses  with,  is  the  qualification  of  little  ungenerous 
tempers.  A  young  man  with  this  cast  of  mind  cuts  himself  off  from 
all  manner  of  improvement.  ...  If  the  talent  of  ridicule  were  em- 
ployed to  laugh  men  out  of  vice  and  folly,  it  might  be  of  some  use  to 
the  world ;  but  instead  of  this,  we  find  that  it  is  generally  made  use  of 
to  laugh  men  out  of  virtue  and  good  sense,  by  attacking  everything 
that  is  solemn  and  serious,  decent  and  praiseworthy  in  human  life." 
Spectator,  No.  249. 


BKADFORD's    AMERICAN    MERCUKY  65 

Body;  wooden  enough  stalking  horses  they  are,  to 
be  sure,  but  they  furnished  an  opportunity  for  some 
good  original  sentences,-^  and  the  whole  conclusion 
of  Franklin's  paper  turns  abruptly  away  from  that 
of  the  Spectator^  which  becomes  a  discussion  of 
comedy  and  burlesque,  somewhat  on  the  order  of 
Fielding's  later  discussions.  The  ''renowned  Titf- 
Club,"  of  which  Franklin  advertised  an  account  in 
his  fourth  Busy-Body  follows  more  closely  the 
''King  of  Clubs,"  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tale 
of  Vulcan's  dogs  in  the  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
ninth  Spectator  furnished  evidently  a  bare  hint  for 
the  coarser  episode  of  Pug,  the  monkey,  in  the 
fifth  Busy-Body.  When  Franklin  read  the  Tatler's 
account^^  of  distinguishing  various  callers  by  their 
raps,  he  drew  from  it  a  suggestion  for  the  develop- 
ment of  Cato's  character,^^  that  model  of  homespun 
virtue  in  his  third  Busy-Body. 

^^ ' '  Among  these  witty  gentlemen  let  us  take  a  view  of  Eidentius. 
What  a  contemptible  figure  does  he  make  with  his  train  of  paltry 
admirers!  This  wight  shall  give  himself  an  hour's  diversion  with  the 
cock  of  a  man's  hat,  the  heels  of  his  shoes,  an  unguarded  expression 
in  his  discourse  or  even  some  personal  defect;  and  the  height  of  his 
low  ambition  is  to  put  some  one  of  the  company  to  the  blush,  who 
perhaps  must  pay  an  equal  share  of  the  reckoning  with  himself." 

--"A  very  odd  Fellow  visited  me  to  Day  at  my  Lodgings,  and  de- 
sired Encouragement  and  Eecommendation  from  me  for  a  new  Inven- 
tion of  Knockers  to  Doors.  .  .  .  He  then  gave  me  a  compleat  Set  of 
Knocks,  from  the  Solitary  Eap  of  the  Dun  and  Beggar,  to  the  Thun- 
derings  of  the  Sawcy  Footman  of  Quality,  with  several  Flourishes  and 
Eatlings  never  yet  performed.  He  likewise  played  over  some  private 
Notes,  distinguishing  the  familiar  Friend  or  Eelation  from  the  most 
modish  Visitor;  and  directing  when  the  Eeserve  Candles  are  to  be 
lighted."     Tatler,  No.  105. 

^''Cato  had  Business  with  some  of  them,  and  knock 'd  at  the  Door. 
The  most  trifling  Actions  of  a  Man  in  my  Opinion,  as  well  as  the 

6 


66       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

If  he  saw  the  Censor  ■^'^  one  of  the  numerous  early 
imitations  of  the  Spectator,  he  probably  took  the  ac- 
count in  one  of  its  numbers  of  Sarah  Skelborn,^^  the 
Speculatrix,asahint,butonlyahint,for  his  nameless 
correspondent  with  the  gift  of  second  sight  in  the 
fifth  Busy-Body.  Second  sight  was  one  of  the  serious 
superstitions  of  the  day,  and  the  Censor  tells  us  that 
^'many  ladies  have  as  high  an  opinion  of  the  Dumb 
Doctor-^  as  of  the  great  Meade/'  and  that  ^^Par- 
tridge is  daily  preferred  to  the  immortal  Sir  Isaac 
Newton/'  Whether  Franklin  ever  saw  this  number 
of  the  Censor  or  not  is  entirely  problematical,  since 
there  is  no  evidence  to  guide  us.  Stray  copies  of 
English  papers  did  cross  the  Atlantic.  The  account 
of  Sarah  Skelborn,  however,  he  could  have  read  in 
Lilly's  History  of  his  Life  and  Times,  or  he  could 
have  read  similar  accounts  of  similarly  gifted  per- 
sons almost  anywhere.  The  important  thing  to  note 
is  that  some  such  hint  served  him  for  the  fifth  as 
well  as  the  delightful  eighth  number  of  the  Busy- 
Body,  in  which  he  warns  his  country-folk  against 
the  ^'odd  Humour  of  Digging  for  Money,  thro'  a 

smallest  Feature  and  Lineaments  of  the  Face,  give  a  nice  Observer 
some  Notion  of  his  Mind.  Methought  he  rapp'd  in  such  a  peculiar 
Manner  as  seem'd  of  itself  to  express  there  was  One,  who  deserv'd  as 
well  as  desir  'd  Admission. ' '    Busy-Body,  No.  3. 

^  Tlie  Censor  is  probably  Theobald 's  paper. 

^''"And,  therefore,  when  he  (Lilly  in  his  History)  says,  that  Sarah 
Skelborn,  the  Speculatrix,  had  the  best  eyes  for  second  sight  that 
ever  he  saw,  he  will  certainly  be  believed;  because  it  is  a  received 
maxim  with  the  ignorant  that  every  one  has  not  the  faculty  of  dis- 
cerning spirits  and  future  contingencies."  Censor^  No.  11,  May  4, 
1715. 

^  The  ' '  Dumb  Doctor '  *  referred  to  is  Duncan  Campbell,  the  hero 
of  Defoe 's  book. 


BRADFORD  S    AMERICAN     MERCURY 


67 


Belief  that  much  has  been  hid  by  Pirates  formerly 
frequenting  the  Kiver.^'  Astrology  and  '^  second 
sight"  were  frequently  resorted  to  for  information 
as  to  mysterious  treasure. 

The  passages  giving  the  avowed  aim  of  the  Busy- 
Body  show  the  greatest  direct  imitation  of  the  Spec- 
tator to  be  found  in  the  essays.  Even  here,  how- 
ever, the  resemblance  is  seldom  verbal.  There  is  a 
vital  use  of  the  thought  borrowed  for  new  ends.  It 
may  be  clearer  at  this  point  to  quote  parallel  state- 
ments of  purpose  in  the  Spectator  and  Busy-Body 
respectively : 


The  Spectator. 

"If  Punch  grows  extrava- 
gant I  shall  reprimand  him 
very  freely;  if  the  stage  be- 
comes a  nursery  of  folly  and 
impertinence,  I  shall  not  be 
afraid  to  animadvert  upon 
it.  In  short,  if  I  meet  with 
anything  in  city,  court,  or 
country,  that  shocks  modesty 
or  good  manners,  I  shall  use 
my  utmost  endeavors  to 
make  an  example  of  it.  I 
must,  however,  entreat  every 
particular  person,  who  does 
me  the  honor  to  be  a  reader 
of  this  paper,  never  to  think 
himself  or  any  one  of  his 
friends  or  enemies,  aimed  at 
in  what  is  said ;  for  I 
promise  him,  never  to  draw 
a    faulty    character    which 


The  Busy-Body. 

"With  more  concern  have 
I  continually  observ'd  the 
growing  Vices  and  Follies  of 
my  Country-folk;  and,  tho' 
Reformation  is  properly  the 
concern  of  every  Man;  that 
is.  Every  one  ought  to  mend 
One ;  yet  'Tis  too  true  in 
this  Case,  that  what  is  every 
Body's  Business  is  nobody's 
Business;  and  the  Business 
is  done  accordingly.  I, 
therefore,  upon  mature  De- 
liberation, think  fit  to  take 
Nobody 's  Business  wholly 
into  my  own  Hands ;  and, 
out  of  Zeal  for  the  Publick 
Good,  design  to  erect  myself 
into  a  Kind  of  Censor 
Morum; 


68      LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 


does  not  fit  at  least  a  thou- 
sand people ;  or  to  publish  a 
single  paper,  that  is  not 
written  in  the  spirit  of 
benevolence,  and  with  a  love 
to  mankind."    No.  34. 


"I  am  sensible  I  have  in 
this  Particular  undertaken  a 
very  unthankful  Office,  and 
expect  little  besides  my 
Labour,  for  my  Pains. 
Nay,  'tis  probable  I  may  dis- 
please a  great  Number  of 
your  Readers,  who  will  not 
very  well  like  to  pay  10  S. 
a  Year  for  being  told  of 
their  Faults.  But,  as  most 
People  delight  in  Censure 
when  they  themselves  are 
not  the  Objects  of  it,  if  any 
are  offended  at  my  publickly 
exposing  their  private  Vices, 
I  promise  they  shall  have 
the  Satisfaction,  in  a  very 
little  Time,  of  seeing  their 
good  Friends  and  Neigh- 
bours in  the  same  Circum- 
stances."    No.  1. 

"  'Tis  to  be  observ'd  that 
if  any  bad  Characters  hap- 
pen to  be  drawn  in  the 
Course  of  these  Papers,  they 
mean  no  particular  Person, 
if  they  are  not  particularly 
apply 'd.  Likewise,  that  the 
Author  is  no  Party-Man,  but 
a  general  Meddler. ' '    No.  3. 


"But  there  are  none  to 
whom  this  paper  will  be 
more    useful    than    to    the 


"However,  let  the  Fair 
Sex  be  assur'd  that  I  shall 
always  treat  them  and  their 


Bradford's  American  mercury 


69 


female  World.  I  have  often 
thought  there  has  not  been 
sufficient  pains  taken  in 
finding  out  proper  employ- 
ments and  diversions  for  the 
Fair  ones.  Their  amuse- 
ments seem  contrived  for 
them,  rather  as  they  are 
women,  than  as  they  are 
reasonable  creatures ;  and 
are  more  adapted  to  the  Sex 
than  to  the  species.  The 
toilet  is  their  great  scene  of 
business,  and  the  right  ad- 
justing of  their  hair  the 
principal  employment  of 
their  lives."     No.  10. 

"I  look  upon  myself  as 
a  kind  of  guardian  of  the 
t'air,  and  am  always  watch- 
ful to  observe  anything 
which  concerns  their  in- 
terest."   No.  423. 


Affairs  with  the  utmost  De- 
cency and  Respect.  I  in- 
tend now  and  then  to  dedi- 
cate a  Chapter  wholly  to 
their  Service;  and  if  my 
Lectures  any  Way  con- 
tribute to  the  Embellish- 
ment of  their  IMinds  and 
brightening  of  their  Under- 
standings, without  offend- 
ing their  Modesty,  I  doubt 
not  of  having  their  Favour 
and  Encouragement."  No. 
1. 


— Tenet    insanabile    multos 
Scribendi  cacoethes.    Juv. 

"There  is  a  certain  dis- 
temper, which  is  mentioned 
neither  by  Galen  nor  Hippo- 
crates, nor  to  be  met  with 
in  the  London  Dispensary. 
Juvenal,  in  the  motto  of  my 
paper,  terms  it  a  cacoethes, 
which  is  a  hard  word  for  a 
disease,  called,  in  plain  Eng- 


' '  The  Censor  observing, 
that  the  Itch  of  Scribbling 
begins  to  spread  exceed- 
ingly, and  being  carefully 
tender  of  the  Reputation  of 
his  Country  in  Point  of  Wit 
and  Good  Sense,  has  de- 
termined to  take  all  manner 
of  writings  in  Verse  or 
Prose,  that  pretend  to  either, 
under   his   immediate    Cog- 


70      LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL   NEWSPAPERS 


lish,  the  itch  of  writing. 
This  cacoethes  is  as  epidem- 
ical as  the  small-pox,  there 
being  very  few  who  are  not 
seized  with  it  some  time  or 
other  in  their  lives.  There 
is,  however,  this  difference 
in  these  two  distempers; 
that  the  first,  after  having 
indisposed  you  for  a  time, 
never  returns  again ;  where- 
as this  I  am  speaking  of, 
when  it  is  once  got  into  the 
blood,  seldom  comes  out  of 
it.  The  British  nation  is 
very  much  afflicted  with  this 
malady,  and  though  very 
many  remedies  have  been 
applied  to  persons  infected 
with  it,  few  of  them  have 
ever  proved  successful. 
Some  have  been  cauterized 
with  satires  and  lampoons, 
but  have  received  little  or 
no  benefit  from  them;  .  .  . 
I  suffered  them  (the  scrib- 
blers) to  ray  out  their  dark- 
ness as  long  as  I  was  able  to 
endure  it,  till  at  length  I 
came  to  a  resolution  of  ris- 
ing upon  them,  and  hope  in 
a  little  time  to  drive  them 
quite  out  of  the  British 
hemisphere."     No.  582. 


nizance ;  and  accordingly 
hereby  prohibits  the  Pub- 
lishing any  such  for  the 
future,  till  they  have  first 
pass'd  his  Examination,  and 
receiv  'd  his  Imprimatur ; 
for  which  he  demands  as  a 
Fee  only  6  d.  per  Sheet." 
No.  5. 


beadford's  ameeican   meecuey  71 

A  glance  will  make  it  plain  that  the  imitation  here 
hardly  extends  further  than  the  general  purpose 
and  form,  with  now  and  them  a  haunting  likeness  in 
a  phrase,  a  word,  a  paragraph.  Since  Franklin's 
earl}^  work  is  popularly  regarded  as  the  most  note- 
worthy colonial  imitation  of  Addison,  the  results  of 
investigation  into  other  papers  such  as  The  New 
England  Weekly  Journal  may  appear  the  more  strik- 
ing as  we  proceed.  In  Franklin's  case,  we  simply 
have  the  advantage  of  knowing  his  models,  before- 
hand. And  it  happens  that  Keimer's  Universal  In- 
structor, dull  as  its  pages  are  for  the  most  part, 
affords  us  here  a  piquant  piece  of  external  evidence, 
hitherto  buried  along  with  the  articles  copied  from 
Chambers 's  Encyclopedia.  Keimer  was  by  no  means 
poor-spirited  enough  to  abandon  his  own  cause, 
when  he  saw  the  Busy-Body  taking  the  town  by 
storm.  He  attacked  his  unwelcome  rival  boldly; 
and  his  attack  consists  in  accusing  him  of  copying 
the  Taller  and  the  Spectator!  So  we  have  excellent 
first  hand  evidence  that  Franklin's  love  for  Addison 
and  Steele  was  well  known  to  his  contemporaries. 

Keimer  took  the  character  of  Cretico  in  the  third 
Busy-Body  as  a  portrait  of  himself,  which  indeed  it 
probably  was.  "0,  Cretico!  thou  sowre  Philoso- 
pher!" wrote  Franklin,  ^^When  wilt  thou  be  es- 
teem'd,  regarded,  and  belov'd  like  Cato?  ...  Be 
advised  by  thy  Friend.  Neglect  those  musty  Au- 
thors; let  them  be  cover 'd  with  Dust,  and  moulder 
on  their  proper  Shelves;  and  do  thou  apply  thyself 
to  a  Study  much  more  profitable.  The  knowledge  of 
Mankind  and  of  thy  Self."     Doubtless  the  ^' musty 


72      LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL,  NEWSPAPERS 

authors'^  referred  to  Chambers's  Encyclopedia  and 
various  Seventh  Day  or  other  religions  tracts. 
Keimer  retorted  in  a  prominent  column  of  his 
paper,^^  with  the  conspicuous  headline,  ''Hue  and 
Cry  after  the  Busy-Body. ''  A  bit  of  yellow  jour- 
nalism it  was,  and,  as  might  have  been  expected,  it 
only  made  the  Busy-Body  loom  larger  in  the  public 
eye.  Keimer  dabbled  in  verse,  so  it  was  natural 
enough  that  he  should  try  his  hand  on  his  rival. 
This  is  the  withering  little  satire  which  introduces 
his  remarks. 

''But  prithee  tell  me,  art  thou  mad, 
To  mix  good  Writing  with  the  bad? 
Fie,  Sir,  let  all  be  of  a  Piece, 

Spectators,  Swans,  or  Joseph's  geese:" 

" Joseph, '*  of  course,  refers  to  Franklin's  co- 
worker on  the  Busy-Body,  Joseph  Breintnal,  whose 
papers  by  no  means  always  deserved  the  slur. 
Keimer  followed  these  spirited  lines  with  prose  crit- 
icism of  the  third  Busy-Body,  in  which,  we  remem- 
ber, the  characters  of  Cato  and  Cretico  are  con- 
trasted, Cato  being  distinguished  by  his  knock.^^ 
Keimer  calls  this  "ridiculous  rant  about  knowing  a 
man  for  his  rap,"  yet  not  without  example,  "for," 
he  writes,  "I  remember  the  Tatler^^  says  'A  very 
odd  fellow  visited  me  to-day  at  my  Lodging,  and 
desired  Encouragement  and  Kecommendation  from 

"  See  TJie  Universal  Instructor  in  all  Arts  and  Sciences  and  Penn- 
sylvania Gazette,  No.  XII,  January  13,  1729.  Keimer  must  have 
made  a  mistake  in  dating  his  paper,  for  the  Busy-Body  did  not  begin 
until  Feb.  4,  1729. 

^Vide  supra,  pp.  65-66. 

^  Tatler,  No.  105.    Vide  supra,  p.  65,  note  22. 


BKADFORD's    AMERICAN     MERCURY  73 

me/  '^  Then  follows  the  ''odd  fellow ^s"  lesson  in 
raps,  which  Keimer  quotes  in  full  from  the  Tatler, 
ending  with,  ' '  He  likewise  played  over  some  private 
notes,  distinguishing  the  familiar  Friend,  Eelation, 
etc.''  The  comment  which  Keimer  makes  on  the 
Busy-Body's  indebtedness  to  the  Tatler  is  intended 
to  be  full  of  wit  and  sarcasm.  ''Egad,"  he  says,  "I 
fancy  Cato's  an  odd  Descendant  of  that  very  odd 
Fellow ;  and  his  Knack  of  Knocking  comes  by  Inheri- 
tance.'' Franklin  did  indeed,  in  all  probability,  get 
his  idea  of  Cato's  Knock  from  the  Tatler,  as  we  have 
seen.^^  Not  to  be  outdone  in  the  knowledge  of  polite 
literature,  Keimer  proceeds  himself  to  quote  from 
the  ' '  sentiments  of  that  generous  Man,  to  whom  the 
World  is  So  highly  obliged  for  the  elegantest  Sys- 
tem of  Wit,  Politeness,  Oeconomy,  and  all  the  social 
and  Christian  Vertues  that  form  that  shining  Char- 
acter, A  Gentleman !  who  was  as  justly  rewarded  by 
an  unenvy'd  Applause  and  an  uninterrupted  Run  of 
Reputation."  These  are  Keimer 's  glowing  words 
in  praise  of  Addison. 

The  next  week  another  article  appeared  in  The 
Universal  Instructor, ^'^  proving  again  that  Keimer 
was  something  of  a  man  of  letters,  for  he  quotes  the 
Essay  on  Criticism,  and  condemns  in  round  terms 
the  "servile  Imitation"  of  the  Spectator  in  the 
spurious  ninth  volume.  "The  Fate  of  this  Book," 
he  says  grandly,  "in  some  sort  falls  on  all  that  have 
endeavour  'd  to  succeed  in  that  way. ' '  Thus  he  tried 
to  stem  the  popularity  of  the  Busy-Body.     But  the 

**Vide  supra,  p.  65. 

^  See  The  Universal  Instructor,  No.  XIIT,  Jan.  20,  1729.     Again, 
Keimer  must  have  been  wrong  in  his  date. 


74      LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

reading  public  delighted  in  the  novelty  of  essays  in 
any  form,  imitative  or  not,  after  years  of  stale  news 
from  Hungary  or  Italy.  In  a  few  months  Keimer 
had  sold  his  paper  to  Franklin  and  left  for  the  Bar- 
badoes,  where  he  established  a  newspaper,  called 
The  Barhadoes  Gazette.  It  contained  a  number  of 
essays  and  letters  imitative  of  the  Tatler.^^  Thus 
Keimer  would  seem  to  have  profited  by  Franklin's 
example. 

Not  all  the  credit  of  the  clever  work  that  ruined 
a  rivaFs  business  belongs  to  Franklin,  however. 
Only  six  of  the  Busy-Body  essays  are  his,  and  not 
even  all  of  these.  His  share  has  been  indicated  in 
the  second  volume  of  the  late  Professor  A.  H. 
Smyth's  edition  of  Franklin's  Writings.  Joseph 
Breintnal  wrote  the  rest.  The  papers  in  which 
Franklin  had  no  share  have  been  passed  over  as 
dull,  forgotten  rubbish. 

A  word  about  Breintnal.  In  the  Autobiography 
he  is  described  first  among  the  members  of  the  Junto. 
A  copyer  of  deeds,  he  probably  held  a  slightly  higher 
position  at  that  time  than  many  of  Franklin's 
friends.  ^^A  good-natur'd,  friendly,  middle-ag'd 
man,"  we  are  told  in  the  Autobiography ,^^  **a  great 
lover  of  poetry,  reading  all  he  could  meet  with,  and 
writing  some  that  was  tolerable;  very  ingenious  in 
many  little  Nicknackeries,  and  of  sensible  conversa- 
tion."   Franklin  evidently  valued  him  also  for  his 

^^  Caribbeana,  "containing  Letters  and  Dissertations,  together  with 
Poetical  Essays  on  various  subjects  and  occasions,  chiefly  wrote  by 
several  hands  in  the  West  Indies."     Published  in  London,  1741. 

"  See  Writings  of  Benjamin  FranMin^  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  Vol.  I, 
p.  299. 


BRADFOKD's    AMERICAN    MERCURY  76 

influence  in  recommending  solid  business  to  the 
printing-house,  for  which  Breintnal  procured  from 
the  Quakers  the  printing  of  forty  sheets  of  their  his- 
tory.2^  This  fact,  and  the  papers  against  Infidelity 
in  the  later  numbers  of  the  Busy-Body  indicate  that 
Breintnal  was  untouched  by  Franklin's  Deism,  and, 
indeed,  as  a  middle-aged  man,  he  would  be  little 
likely  to  attend  to  the  religious  opinions  of  a  young 
fellow  of  twenty-three.  None  the  less  did  he  devote 
himself  to  the  young  fellow's  interests;  and  none 
the  less  was  he  profoundly  influenced  by  the  literary 
and  economical  enthusiasms  of  Franklin,  as  an  ex- 
amination of  his  papers  shows.  When  the  members 
of  the  Junto  merged  their  private  books  in  the  com- 
mon library,  doubtless  Breintnal's  formed  no  small 
share.  There  is  indeed  some  evidence  for  this  sup- 
position in  the  fact  that  he  presented  to  the  later 
Library  Company  Plutarch's  Morals  (in  English) 
and  Animadversions  upon  Hobbes's  Leviathan,  by 
Alexander  Eosse,  a  London  publication  of  1653. 
Political  and  philosophical  thought  interested  him 
keenly. 

Thirty-two  Busy-Body  papers  were  sent  to  the 
Mercury.  Breintnal  wrote  twenty-six,  and  collabo- 
rated on  two  of  the  others,  so  that,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  Franklin  only  started  the  series,  evidently  with 
the  understanding  that  Breintnal  should  continue  in 
the  same  general  manner.  This  Breintnal  succeeded 
in  doing.  He  had  none  of  Franklin's  teasing,  witty 
effrontery,  yet  several  of  his  social  satires  compare 
favorably  enough  with  the  best  of  Franklin's.     In- 

»*  Ibid.,  p.  300. 


76       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

deed,  there  is  a  double  imitation  here,  interesting  to 
observe.  On  the  one  hand,  Breintnal  followed  the 
Spectator.  No  doubt  he  had  his  own  copy  at  hand, 
but  in  any  case  a  member  of  the  Junto  would  have 
access  to  all  the  books  of  the  club.  The  general  plan 
of  BreintnaPs  essays  resembles  the  Spectator  more 
closely  than  Franklin's.  There  are  letters  from 
Florio  and  Matilda,  from  Amy  Prudent,  Lucy  Wid- 
owless  and  Marcia,  all  with  grievances  such  as  the 
Amorets  and  Deborahs  bring  to  Mr.  Spectator. 
Then,  too,  Breintnal  was  naturally  trying  to  be  like 
Franklin.  In  one  instance,^^  he  succeeded  so  admir- 
ably that  one  almost  suspects  Franklin  of  a  share  in 
the  paper, — a  rather  unworthy  and  unnecessary  sus- 
picion, however,  since  there  is  no  other  evidence  for 
it.  As  this  clever  little  piece  may  be  seen  only  in 
the  dusty  files  of  the  Mercury,  we  may  profitably 
examine  it  in  more  detail  than  the  well-known  and 
often-reprinted  essays  of  Franklin. 

Breintnal  begins  with  a  petition,  having  all  the 
conviction  of  reality,  from  the  young  tradesmen  and 
artificers  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  to  the  Busy- 
Body,  showing  first  of  all  why  they  cannot  marry. 
i  i  The  gay  and  splendid  appearance  which  the  young 
Ladies  about  our  own  Station  universally  affect, 
makes  it  very  difficult  to  distinguish  them  from  Peo- 
ple of  the  best  Estates  in  Town,  which  very  much 
perplexes  your  Petitioners,  lest  by  addressing  Them- 
selves to  their  Superiors  they  should  fall  under  the 
Imputation  of  Impudence  and  Presumption,  which 
your  Petitioners  hope  they  shall  always  have  more 

"  See  Busy-Body,  No.  15,  in  The  American  Mercury  of  May  22, 1729. 


BKADFOKD's    AMEKICAlSr    MERCUKY  77 

G-race  than  to  incur.  .  .  .  Your  Petitioners  are  like- 
wise so  unbred  as  to  have  no  true  Eelish  for  Tea, 
neither  can  they  clearly  distinguish  the  Taste  of 
Bohea  from  Green:  Besides  which  there  are  great 
Variety  of  Utensils  belonging  to  the  Tea-Equipage 
which  your  Petitioners  despair  of  ever  learning  the 
Name,  and  Use  off;  And  this  ignorance  of  theirs, 
they  are  sensible,  must  make  them  appear  exces- 
sively awkward  and  ridiculous,  when  they  come 
under  the  Tuition  of  Polite  Spouses,  who  count  the 
knowledge  of  these  particulars  of  the  greatest  Im- 
portance. Your  Petitioners  have  heard  also,  that 
all  these  Things  are  very  chargeable;  viz..  That  one 
Ounce  of  Tea  often  costs  as  much  as  Fifty  Pounds 
of  Flour,  That  a  Sugar  Loaf  is  worth  a  Quarter  of 
Beef,  and  That  the  Tea-Table  and  Appertenances, 
are  of  as  much  value  as  the  Furniture  of  a  Eoom; 
Which  Account  to  your  Petitioners  appears  alto- 
gether extravagant  and  surprising.'^  Accordingly 
they  beg  that  the  Busy-Body  will  lay  his  injunctions 
upon  the  fair  ones  of  their  rank,  that  they  may  no 
longer  be  ''thus  guarded  with  an  Air  of  Quality,  and 
entrench 'd  behind  double  Eows  of  China- Ware." 

Here  indeed  are  all  the  favorite  economic  ideals 
of  the  man  who  took  his  morning  porridge  with  a 
pewter  spoon,  and  wrote  Poor  Eichard's  Almanac. 
The  petitioners'  letter  immediately  suggests  the 
later  effusion  of  Anthony  Afterwit  in  the  Gazette;^^ 
Franklin  makes  Afterwit  complain  of  the  ''  Tea- 
Table  with  all  its  Appurtenences  of  China  and  Sil- 


36 


See  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  July  10,  1732.  This  letter  of  Anthony 
Afterwit  has  also  been  reprinted  in  Writings  of  Benjamin  Frayillin, 
ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  VoL  II,  p.  182. 


78       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

ver/'  as  well  as  other  feminine  extravagances.  Yet 
there  is  a  certain  sly  urbanity  in  BreintnaPs  respect- 
ful and  even  complimentary  hints,  which,  one  fan- 
cies, would  have  made  Philadelphia  young  ladies 
more  kindly  disposed  toward  the  good  advice  than 
they  were  toward  Franklin's  derisive  fun. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  both  papers  probably  had  the 
same  ultimate  source  in  the  three  hundred  and 
twenty-eighth  Spectator  of  the  collected  edition,^^ 
where  a  grieved  husband  sets  forth  his  wife's  ex- 
travagance in  embroidery  and  tea.  ^'Coffee,  choco- 
late, green,  imperial,  Pekoe,  and  Bohea  Tea,  seem  to 
be  trifles ;  but  when  the  proper  appurtenances  of  the 
tea-table  are  added,  they  swell  the  account  higher 
than  one  would  imagine."  Steele's  word  '^appur- 
tenances" would  not  come  very  naturally  to  either 
Breintnal  or  Franklin  unless  they  had  seen  it  in  some 
rather  formal,  literary  connection.  It  has  no  con- 
crete, mechanical  significance,  such  as  tradespeople 
would  need.  Elegant  conversation,  much  more 
formal  in  the  eighteenth  century  than  now,  might 
have  supplied  it ;  and  we  know  that  the  Junto  tried  to 
present  their  arguments  in  what  was  regarded  as  ex- 
cellent form.  Then,  too,  there  are  a  thousand  liter- 
ary sources,  books  and  pamphlets,  in  which  they 
could  have  found  it,  as  well  as  the  Spectator.  Noth- 
ing more  than  a  probability  that  they  took  their  liter- 
ary expression  of  the  growing  custom  of  tea-drinking 
from  this  source,  can  be  even  contended  for.  The 
great  similarity  in  the  context,  the  fact  that  the  con- 
nection of  words  and  thought  is  precisely  the  same 

"March  17,  1712. 


Bradford's  American  mercury  79 

in  all  three,  strengthens  the  probability.  Moreover, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  before  1730, — before 
the  days  of  the  London  and  Gentleman's  Magazines, 
stray  English  essays  on  the  Spectator  model  did  not 
reach  the  provinces  frequently.  Headers  were  far 
more  dependent  on  bound  volumes  of  standard 
books ;  and  of  these  none  that  we  know  were  so  often 
imitated  as  the  various  periodicals  of  Addison  and 
Steele. 

Another  good  paper  from  the  hand  of  Breintnal 
treats  of  idleness.  The  sermon  is  well  disguised  by 
a  coating  of  sugar.^^  Octavus,  complaining  that  he 
has  so  little  to  do,  begs  to  be  admitted  into  the  Cen- 
sor's service  as  a  sort  of  Under  Busy-Body.  "  It 
is  my  Misfortune,  Sir,"  he  explains,  ^' since  the  re- 
nowned Don  Morisini,  and  the  ingenious  Mr.  P.  left 
this  Place,  to  have  no  Company,  nor  any  Thing  in 
the  World  to  emplo}^  my  Time  in,  except  sauntring 
idly  up  and  down,  swinging  my  Cane  in  my  Hand, 
and  counting  the  Pillars  in  the  Market-House." 
The  cane  was  one  of  the  conspicuous  contemporary 
accessories  of  a  fop^^  in  England,  and  it  is  interest- 
ing to  see  the  Busy-Body  taking  note  of  the  same 
characteristics  in  provincial  Philadelphia. 

The  fourteenth  Busy -Body  has  also  a  very  lively 
letter  from  Matilda  to  the  Censor,  headed  tragically 
enough  with  the  motto,  ''0  Temporal  0  Mores!" 
and  saying  that  Florio,  '^the  gayest,  prettiest  Gen- 

^  See  Busy-Body,  No.  14,  May  15,  1729. 

^'  See  The  Tatler,  Nos.  26,  28,  71,  77,  and  103  for  descriptions  of  the 
English  fop,  with  his  red-heeled  shoes,  and  his  amber-headed  cane  tied 
at  his  button. 


80       LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

tleman  about  Town,'^  has  made  love  to  both  Flavia 
and  herself.  The  Busy-Body  promises  to  avenge 
her,  in  BreintnaPs  more  melodramatic  strain.  ^^I 
must  confess  so  great  an  Enormity  acted  even  under 
the  Eye  of  our  Censorship  transports  me  with  In- 
dignation. And  thou  discourteous  Knight,  thou 
shame  to  the  Honour  of  thy  Profession,  thou  that 
hast  basely  falsified  thy  Word,  make  immediate 
Eeparation,  or  my  Sword  shall  seek  thee ;  among  the 
Steely  Squadrons  will  I  pursue  thee;  In  vain  tho' 
thou  hidest  thyself  in  the  Center  of  the  Macedonian 
Phalanx;  in  vain  tho'  Hector  and  Achilles  fought  on 
thy  side,  and  the  Seven  Champions  of  Christendom 
battled  on  thy  Eight  Hand. ' ' 

Presently  we  hear  from  the  distracted  Florio,^^ 
whose  defence  becomes  in  itself  an  amusing  hit  at 
the  hard-hearted  coquette.  * '  I ' ve  sigh  'd,  I  've  sworn, 
and  pin'd  almost  to  Death,  and  like  an  Amorous 
Fool  composed  Ten  thousand  Stanzas  filPd  with  the 
Praises  of  Matilda's  Form.''  In  this  distressing 
crisis,  Flavia  took  pity  on  him.  What  should  he 
do?  Eefuse  the  proffered  balm!  The  Busy-Body 
leaves  his  question  quietly  unanswered.  But  we 
learn  from  Marcus,  in  a  later  number,^  ^  that  the 
ladies  began  to  resent  the  Censor's  attempt  to  re- 
form modish  follies,  and  whether  this  be  fiction  or 
not,  the  next  essay^^  changes  the  emphasis  to  the 
faults  of  the  other  sex.  In  fact,  there  are  no  more 
satires  on  the  ladies.  Instead,  Amy  Prudent  is 
allowed  to  show  the  enormity  of  the  Meridional  Club. 

*°  See  Busy-Body,  No.  16,  May  29,  1729. 
« Ibid.,  No.  19,  June  19,  1729. 
*2Ibid.,  No.  20,  June  26,  1729. 


BKADFOKD's    AMERICAN    MERCURY  81 

What,  indeed,  could  ^'Twelve  a  Clock  Punch  Drink- 
ers,'' as  she  calls  the  members,  have  to  say  to  after- 
noon tea  ?  Lucy  Widowless,  too,^^  writes  of  the  sad 
neglect  and  abuse  received  from  her  husband,  con- 
trasting such  treatment  with  the  days  of  courtship. 

The  last  number  of  the  Busy-Body"^^  has  an  amus- 
ing as  well  as  sensible  letter  of  advice  to  voters  be- 
fore the  fall  elections.  Apparently  men  were  even 
more  in  danger  of  over-excitement  then  than  now,  if 
we  may  judge  by  the  Busy-Body's  warning  in  regard 
to  the  diet  best  adapted  for  keeping  a  cool  head.  ^'I 
advise  you,  therefore,  now  Dog  days  are  past,  to 
drink  water  moderately,  and  no  wine." 

Breintnal  wrote  several  more  or  less  political 
papers,  showing  not  only  that  he  had  his  Plutarch 
at  his  fingers'  ends,  but  was  suiDplied  with  Cato's 
Letters^^  and  the  Guardian,  as  well  as  miscel- 
laneous classical  tales  and  instances  of  one  sort  and 
another.  No  doubt  he  owned  Plutarch's  Lives 
together  with  the  Morals,  which  we  know  he  pre- 
sented to  the  Library  Company.  Cato's  Letters 
were  popular  enough  in  the  colonies  to  be  quoted  in 
every  colonial  newspaper  from  Boston  to  Savannah, 
and  must  have  had  no  small  share  in  bringing  about 
that  amazing  unity  of  political  feeling  which  we  find 
by  1760  in  civilizations  so  fundamentally  opposed  as 
those  of  Charleston  and  Boston.    Indeed,  these  polit- 

«Ibid.,  No.  28,  August  21,  1729. 

**  Ibid.,  No.  32,  September  18,  1729. 

"  Cato  's  Letters  or  The  British  Cato.  The  political  papers  of 
Thomas  Gordon  and  John  Trenchard,  published  every  Saturday  from 
Nov.  5,  1720,  to  July  27,  1723.  The  earliest  numbers  were  printed 
in  The  London  Journal,  later  ones  in  The  British  Journal.  The  New 
York  Public  Library  has  four  editions  of  Cato 's  Letters. 

7 


82      LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

ical  papers  of  Thomas  Gordon  and  John  Trenchard, 
published  in  The  London  Journal  before  1723,  de- 
velop a  theory  of  representative  government  similar 
in  most  respects  to  that  which  underlies  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence.    Often  the  very  phrases  of 
Cato's  Letters  sound  like  American  commonplaces. 
For  example,  we  read  in  the  fifteenth  paper:  ^'The 
Administration  of  Government  is  nothing  else  but 
the  Attendance  of  the  Trustees  of  the  People  upon 
the  Interest  and  Affairs  of  the  People.''    Or  again, 
in  the  twenty-fourth :  ^ '  The  first  Principles  of  Power 
are  in  the  People;  and  all  the  Projects  of  Men  in 
Power  ought  to  refer  to  the  People,  to  aim  solely 
at  their  Good,  and  end  in  it."     As  to  the  Divine 
Eight   of  Kings,  the  British  Cato  is  unequivocal: 
^'Some  have  said  that  Magistrates,  being  account- 
able to  none  but  God,  ought  to  know  no  other  re- 
straint.   But  this  Keasoning  is  as  frivolous  as  it  is 
wicked."     Cato's   Letters   were   collected   in   four 
volumes  by  1724,  and  could  therefore  be  more  easily 
circulated  in  America  than  current  periodicals.    The 
colonial  editor  could  publish  his  own  sentiments  in 
safety,  if  he  could  advertise  them  as  the  opinions  of 
the  ''Divine  English  Cato." 

So  Breintnal  ''finds  the  subject  better  treated  by 
Cato, '  ''^^  and  proceeds  to  give  a  long  extract  verbatim 
on  the  reasonable  desires   of  men.^^     He  takes  a 

"See  Busy-Body,  No.  10,  April  ]0,  1729. 

" ' '  The  first  reasonable  Desire  which  men  have,  is  to  be  in  easy 
Circumstances,  and  as  free  from  Pain  and  Danger  as  humane  Con- 
dition will  permit;  and  then  all  their  Views  and  Actions  are  directed 
to  acquire  Homage  and  Eespect  from  others;  and,  indeed,  in  a  larger 
Sense,  the  latter  are  included  in   the   former.     Different  Ways   are 


Bradford's  American   mercury  83 

letter  entire"^^  from  a  '^late  famous  political  Writer 
in  England,"  on  peace  and  conciliation  with  the  Col- 
onies."^^  He  also  uses  Plutarch's  Life  of  Timoleon 
for  a  similar  purpose,  and  relates  at  length  the  inci- 
dent leading  up  to  Timoleon 's  famous  saying,  '^Re- 
joice to  see  the  time  when  every  man  in  Syracuse 
may  freely  speak  what  he  thinks.  "•'^*^  He  publishes 
in  the  same  number  of  the  Busy-Body,^'^  an  essay 
entire  from  the  Guardian,  with  this  little  notice : 
*^The  following  Essay  on  the  Political  Lion,  taken 
from  the  Guardian,  is  sent  me  by  a  Correspondent, 
as  proper  to  be  published  at  this  Time."  The  cor- 
respondent was  probably  fictitious. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  there  are  no  dull 
stretches  in  Breintnal's  Busy-Body  papers.  His 
essays  on  general  topics  such  as  the  manners  of 
the  poor  and  the  rich,^^  the  dependence  of  different 
members  of  society  upon  one  another,^ ^  youth  and 
age,^"*  a  catalogue  of  virtues  and  vices,^^  are  insuffer- 
ably tedious;  while  if  he  was  indeed,  as  Franklin 
said,^^  a  tolerable  writer  of  verse,  we  get  no  hint  of 
it  in  the  dull  couplets  which  he  ground  out  for  the 

taken  to  attain  this  End."  And  so  on.  See  Cato's  Letters,  Nos. 
108-115,  inc.,  for  a  series  of  philosophical  speculations  on  instincts, 
on  the  origin  of  good  and  evil,  on  liberty  and  necessity,  and  other  sub- 
jects of  a  similar  nature. 

*«  See  Busy-Body,  No.  11,  April  24,  1729. 

*^  See  Cato's  Letters,  No.  106.     Of  Flantations  and  Colonies. 

'"  See  Busy-Body,  No.  9,  April  3,  1729. 

=^  Ibid. 

=-Ibid.,  No.  12,  May  1,  1729. 

■^Ibid.,  No.  25,  July  31,  1729. 

"  Ibid.,  No.  30,  Septmeber  4,  1729. 

"  Ibid.,  No.  24,  July  24,  1729. 

^  Vide  supra,  p.  74. 


84      LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Busy-Body,^''  We  should  not  even  guess  that  he  was 
*^a  great  lover  of  poetry, "^^  unless  his  occasional 
slips  in  grammar  indicate  a  poetic  license.  Not  in- 
frequently he  mistook  a  temporal  or  conditional 
clause  for  a  complete  sentence  f^  and  he  was  capable 
of  turning  out  a  stupid  medley  of  phrases  like  the 
incoherent  letter  of  Amicus  Curiae  in  the  twenty- 
second  Busy-Body.^^  Such  hack  work  he  probably 
did  in  haste  to  meet  the  emergency  of  the  moment. 
The  remarkable  thing  is,  not  that  an  obscure,  middle- 
aged  clerk  sometimes  wrote  a  dull  rehash  of  moral 
commonplaces,  but  that  such  a  man  composed  a 
dozen  little  pieces  sparkling  with  wit,  or  full  of 
genuine  thought, — pieces  that  can  bear  comparison 
with  Franklin's  best.  Keimer  spoke  truly  enough, 
perhaps,  in  his  jibe.  The  Busy-Body  may  have  been 
made  up  of 

Spectators,  swans  or  Joseph's  geese, 

— but  some  of  Joseph's  geese  were  swans  too. 

The  last  number  of  the  Busy-Body — the  thirty- 
second^^ — closed  the  series  abruptly.  Probably 
Franklin  was  already  negotiating  with  Keimer  for 
his  Universal  Instructor,  and  precisely  two  weeks 
afterward  the  first  number  of  the  new  Pennsylva- 
nia Gazette  appeared,  being  the  fortieth  number  of 
the  Instructor, ^^  shorn  of  its  ponderous  superfluities. 

"  On  the  subject  of  a  Philadelphia  street,  Busy-Body,  No.  18,  June 
12,  1729. 

^Vicle  supra,  p.  74. 

'^  See  Busy-Body,  No.  12,  May  1,  1729.     Ibid.,  No.  13,  May  8,  1729. 

«ojuly  10,  1729. 

«^  September  18,  1729. 

^^  October  2,  1729. 


BRADFOKD's    AMERICAN    MERCURY  85 

Henceforward  neither  Franklin  nor  his  friends 
would  write  entertaining  articles  for  The  American 
Mercury.  Quite  the  reverse.  All  that  wit  and 
ridicule  and  superior  enterprise  could  do  to  drive 
the  Mercury  out  of  business  was  to  be  done  with  a 
kind  of  merciless  good-humor.  Andrew  Bradford 
had  a  more  solid  position  in  the  community  than 
Keimer,  as  well  as  more  sober  common  sense,  but 
little  by  little  the  Mercury  fell  behind,  until  at  length 
its  backbone  was  broken  by  Franklin's  appointment 
as  postmaster  in  place  of  Bradford.  We  have  seen 
before^^  how  much  this  office  could  mean  to  a  news- 
paper. Bradford  dragged  on  in  business,  it  is  true, 
but  the  Mercury  remained  a  pitiful  affair,  and  its 
chief  permanent  importance  doubtless  lies  in  its  con- 
nection with  Franklin  and  the  Busy-Body  papers. 
Bradford's  various  book  advertisements  and  re- 
prints will  be  considered  in  comparison  with  those 
of  Franklin's  press.  The  Mercury  itself,  however, 
is  not  quite  destitute  of  interest,  and  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  consider  some  traces  of  literary  influence 
brought  to  light  by  the  present  investigation. 

The  American  Mercury  came  within  a  day  of 
being  the  second  newspaper  established  in  the  colo- 
nies, since  its  first  issue  of  December  22,  1719,  was 
only  a  day  later  than  that  of  The  Boston  Gazette. 
The  earliest  files  of  the  Mercury  in  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Historical  Society  have  been  examined.  These 
quaint  little  sheets,  published  when  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin was  a  boy  of  thirteen  in  his  brother's  printing 
office,  do  not  differ  materially  from  the  old  Boston 

'^Vide  supra,  chap.  I. 


86      LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

News-Letter.  We  find  only  a  few  stale  foreign 
items  revamped,  together  with  the  Philadelphia  ship- 
ping entries.  Certainly  there  is  no  original  essay 
nntil  the  first  Busy-Body  of  1729;  but  Bradford 
could  hardly  have  failed  to  note  the  popu- 
larity of  this  literary  fashion,  new  in  Philadelphia. 
He  must  have  taken  a  hint  from  Franklin's  careless 
words:  ^'But  as  few  here  have  the  Advantage  of 
good  Books,  for  want  of  which,  good  Conversation  is 
still  more  scarce,  it  would  doubtless  have  been  very 
accejDtable  to  your  Eeaders,  if,  instead  of  an  old  out- 
of-date  Article  from  Muscovy  or  Hungary,  you  had 
entertained  them  with  some  well-chosen  Extract 
from  a  good  Author. '  '^^ 

RemarherSy  Cato  Juniors,  essays  both  original 
and  copied  whole  ^^from  a  good  author,"  appear  in 
the  Mercury  after  1729.  Bradford  knew  his  Addi- 
son well,  and  sometimes  published  a  Spectator 
paper,  especially  when  he  found  it  convenient  to 
draw  a  moral  from  illustrious  authority.  Twice  he 
prefaced  his  selection  from  Addison  with  an  appre- 
ciative comment  slyly  aimed  at  his  own  foes,  includ- 
ing Franklin  probably  in  both  instances;  certainly 
in  one.  This  is  an  obvious  thrust  at  Franklin's 
Deism,  which  could  not  have  been  a  secret  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  would  very  likely  be  known  there  as 
^^  infidelity"  rather  than  as  Deism.  A  letter  to  ''Mr. 
Bradford"  introduces  the  well-aimed  remarks  by 
which  Franklin  was  to  be  confronted  with  his  own 
pet  enthusiasms  arrayed  against  him. 

" 'Tis  an  Observation  of  my  Lord  Bacon,"  the 

^See  Busy-Body,  No  1,  February  4,  1728-29. 


BRADFOKD's    AMERICAN    MERCURY  87 

letter  begins,^^  striking  a  dignified  Addisonian  note, 
''  'That  a  little  Natural  Philosophy  inclines  Men  to 
Atheism;   but  depth  in  Philosophy  always  brings 
them  about  to  Eeligion.'  "     After  deploring  the  loss 
of  reverence  among  Americans,  particularly  young 
Americans  (Franklin  was  twenty-nine  at  the  time), 
the  letter  continues  in  a  still  more  significant  vein: 
^'I  am  led  into  these  Eeflections  from  reading  a 
Paper  of  the  late  Mr.  Addison,  the  justness  of  whose 
Sentiments,  embellish 'd  with  the  naked  Beauties  and 
Chastity  of  his  Stile  and  Language,  have  deservedly 
placed  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  Authors.     This 
great  Man,  as  may  be  seen  in  many  of  his  Specula- 
tions, was  not  ashamed  to  own  himself  a  Eeligious 
Man,  tho'  in  natural  and  acquired  Knowledge  was 
as  much  Superior  to  our  Modern  Skeptical  Eefiners, 
as  were  Socrates  or  Plato  to  a  Toland  or  a  Woolston. 
You  may  if  you  please  give  it  Eoom  in  your  Paper. ' ' 
These  unmistakable  hints  lead  up  to  the  four  hun- 
dred and  forty-first  Spectator,  that  tender,  yet  re- 
strained  expression  of  trust  in  the  divine  goodness, 
ending  with  Addison's  own  version  of  the  twenty- 
third  Psalm.     Franklin  would  have  endorsed  every 
word  of  it  heartily. 

Again,  and  hardly  less  surely,  Bradford  was  aim- 
ing at  his  rival,  when  introducing  a  passage  from 
the  Spectator,  against  unfounded  suspicions.  Brad- 
ford, himself,  had  been  accused  of  slander,  as  he 
thought,  and  a  sympathizing  letter  in  the  Mercury^^ 
promptly  administers  a  rebuke  in  these  apparently 
simple  terms : 

^  See  Tlie  American  Mercury,  No.  824^  October  9,  1735. 
^No.  738,  February  12,  1733-34. 


88      LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

''Whilst  three  or  four  of  us  were  talking  over  this  affair, 
one  who  admires  and  often  reads  over  the  Spectators,  sent 
for  his  eighth  volume,  and  read  over  number  five  hundred 
and  sixty-eight.  I  shall  only  write  out  the  Conclusion  of 
it,  which  runs  thus;  'I  could  not  forbear  reflecting  with 
myself,  upon  that  gross  tribe  of  fools,  who  may  be  termed 
the  Over-wise.  ...  A  man  who  has  a  good  nose  at  an 
innuendo,  smells  treason  and  sedition  in  the  most  innocent 
words  that  can  be  put  together,  and  never  sees  a  vice  or 
folly  stigmatized,  but  finds  out  one  or  other  of  his  ac- 
quaintance pointed  at  by  the  writer.  I  remember  an 
empty,  pragmatical  fellow,  in  the  country,  who  upon  read- 
ing over  The  whole  Duty  of  Man,  had  written  the  names 
of  several  persons  in  the  village  at  the  side  of  every  sin 
which  is  mentioned  by  that  excellent  author ;  so  that  he  had 
converted  one  of  the  best  books  in  the  world  into  a  libel 
against  the  'Squire,  churchwardens,  overseers  of  the  poor, 
and  all  other  the  most  considerable  persons  in  the  parish. '  '  * 

We  know  that  Franklin  laid  great  stress  on  the 
freedom  of  his  own  paper  from  libel,^"^  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  expose  a  slander  where  he  thought  he 
saw  one.  Probably  Bradford  fondly  hoped  to  spike 
the  enemy's  guns  once  for  all.  If  so,  he  was  griev- 
ously mistaken.  The  next  chapter  will  show  Frank- 
lin gaily  complimenting  himself  on  his  newspaper, 
and  bidding  all  slanderers  to  look  themselves  in  the 
face  in  the  incomparable  mirror  of  truth  furnished 
by  the  Spectator!  But,  in  any  case,  Bradford's 
remarks  are  interesting  in  themselves.  They  show 
that  he  expected  his  readers  to  feel  the  import  of  a 
quotation  from  the  Spectator;  that  the  idea  of  set- 

^  See  Autobiography,  in  Writings  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  ed.  A.  H. 
Smyth,  Vol.  I,  p.  344. 


Bradford's  American   mercury  89 

tling  all  questions  by  a  simple  reference  to  its  almost 
scriptural  authority  was  at  least  not  unfamiliar,  if 
less  common  than  in  England. 

Bacon's  various  works  must  have  been  in  the  office 
of  the  Mercury  or  in  Bradford's  library,  as  frequent 
quotations  and  one  essay^^  entirely  devoted  to  an 
appreciation  of  Bacon  amply  prove.  Stray  quota- 
tions from  Pope  and  Addison  also  add  to  the  literary 
flavor  of  scattered  pieces^^  like  the  discussion  of 
liberty  in  the  seven  hundred  and  forty-seventh  Mer- 
ciiry,"'^  which  is  solemnly  introduced  by  Addison's 
lines  beginning,  ' '  0  Liberty,  Thou  Goddess  Heavenly 

Bright.  "^^ 

The  popularity  of  this  subject,  liberty,  in  the 
eighteenth  century  was  equalled  only  by  that  of  in- 
fidelity, of  marriage,  and  of  temperance.  When  the 
journalist  needed  a  topic  on  sudden  notice,  he  could 
work  over  the  well-worn  ideas  and  apparently  never 
meet  the  charge  of  dulness.  Sometimes  he  re- 
vamped a  famous  treatise,  and  in  case  he  were  writ- 
ing on  liberty,  he  would  be  likely  to  use  Cato's  Let- 
ters, Certainly  Andrew  Bradford  drew  on  them 
liberally  in  every  sense,  for  he  not  only  published 
seven  of  the  letters  in  \i\^  Mercury  phut  also  a  series 
of  very  pompous  articles  on  liberty' ^  in  avowed  imi- 

<»See  Mercury,  No.  818,  August  28,  1735. 

Tope's  Eloisa  is  quoted  in  tbe  Mercury,  No.  667,  October  12,  1732, 
and  a  couplet  from  the  Essay  on  Criticism  closes  an  epitaph  on  A 
Young  Lady  Lately  Bead,  No.  547,  June  18,  1730. 

^•>  April  18,  1734. 

"  See  A  Letter  from  Italy,  to  the  BigJit  Honourable  Charles  Lord 
Balifax,  1.  119  ff. 

"  Nos.  537-540,  April  9  through  April  23,  1730,  and  Nos.  541-545, 
May  7  through  May  28,  1730. 

"Beginning  in  the  Mercury,  No.  955,  April  13,  1738. 


90       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

tation  of  Cato.  Wlietlier  Breintnal's  well-known 
interest  in  the  British  Cato  influenced  Bradford,  it 
is  impossible  to  say.  The  contempt  expressed  in 
the  Mercury  articles  for  low  personal  satire,  for 
^'little  stories  and  calumnies  invented"  points  to 
some  personal  bias,  probably  against  Franklin,  who 
had  by  that  time  been  appointed  to  the  post  office  by 
Colonel  Spotswood.  The  duty  of  a  good  magistrate, 
public  justice,  property,  personal  liberty  in  general, 
are  prominent  topics  in  the  Mercury  essays.  As 
literature  their  merit  may  be  scant,  yet  they  repre- 
sent a  certain  attempt  at  formal  essay-writing  well 
worthy  of  mention. 

After  1730  English  periodicals  of  every  kind 
reached  the  colonies  more  regularly  and  much  more 
frequently.  Bradford  evidently  subscribed  to  The 
London  Magazine,  and  probably  to  The  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  while  receiving  stray  copies  of  weekly 
papers  like  the  Register  and  the  Miscellany.  These 
furnished  him  a  mine  of  wealth.  He  regularly  ex- 
ploited The  London  Magazine,  boldly  copying  arti- 
cles and  essays  on  the  fashions,  the  power  of  custom, 
or  the  English  political  situation.  The  Gentleman's 
Magazine  appears  hardly  less  often,  sometimes  con- 
tinued through  number  after  number  of  the  Mer- 
cury'^^  until  its  miscellaneous  offerings  are  ex- 
hausted. The  monthly  magazines  were  repositories 
of  news,  of  publishers'  notices,  of  political  editorials 
open  or  disguised,  of  moral  and  critical  essays,  and 
of  recent  verse.     The  political  sections  perhaps  had 

'*  r/ie  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  March^  1734,  is  quoted  August  8 
in  the  Mercury,  continued  in  the  next  week 's  Mercury,  No.  763,  also  in 
No.  766. 


BKADFORD^S    AMEBIC  AN    MEECURY  91 

the  most  eager  readers  in  America,  yet  neither  the 
essays  nor  the  verse  were  slighted,  if  we  may  judge 
by  the  uninterrupted  stream  of  both  which  filtered 
into  colonial  newspapers  and  the  later  colonial  pe- 
riodicals. Often  an  essay  from  The  Weekly  Regis- 
ter, or  The  Universal  Spectator,  or  the  Miscellany 
reached  the  American  paper  by  way  of  The  London 
Magazine  or  The  Gentleman's  Magazine  in  which 
it  had  been  reprinted  as  a  whole,  or  in  part.  Brad- 
ford could  not  have  regularly  subscribed  to  all  the 
various  weeklies  which  the  Mercury  used  so  lib- 
erally. Whether  it  be  a  little  treatise  on  Love  and 
Marriage  with  Milton's  ^'Hail,  wedded  Love!"  as 
a  motto/^  or  a  warning  Of  Punctilios  among  the 
Fair  Sex,^^  or  Of  Infidelity y'^"'  Bradford  probably 
drew  from  the  monthly  reviews,  although  particular 
cases  would  be  difficult  to  establish,  since  he  was 
quoting  from  Fog's  Weekly -Journal  in  1729,  before 
the  establishment  of  the  magazines. 

To  continue  the  list  of  English  periodicals  influ- 
encing the  Mercury,  or  copied  directly  into  its  pages, 
would  be  tedious  and  unnecessary.  Bradford  prob- 
ably cared  little  for  literature  at  first  hand.  He 
owed  his  literary  interests  in  the  first  instance  to 
the  quickening  of  his  paper  by  the  Busy-Body,  and 
the  resulting  demand  for  the  essay  form  among  pro- 
vincial readers;  in  the  second  instance,  to  the  fact 

"From  The  WeeTcly  Eegister,  September  30^  1732,  quoted  in  the 
Mercury,  No.  688,  February  28,  1732-33. 

"^^From  The  Universal  Spectator,  No.  405,  quoted  in  the  Mercury, 
No.  888,  December  28,  1736. 

"  From  The  WeeMy  Miscellany,  July  21,  1733,  quoted  in  the 
Mercury,  No.  723,  November  1,  1733. 


92       LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

that  English  papers  of  more  or  less  permanent 
value,  reached  America  in  greater  numbers  after 
1730.  Bacon  he  no  doubt  genuinely  admired,  as 
well  as  Pope'^  and  perhaps  Addison.  But  on  the 
whole,  he  was  not  a  book-inspired  man,  as  his  vari- 
ous book  advertisements  will  show  when  compared 
with  Franklin's.  His  paper,  though  of  immense 
importance  to  the  student  of  American  life,  has  a 
small  place  in  the  history  of  literature;  nor  indeed 
was  Bradford  seriously  attempting  to  make  that 
place  larger. 

"The  Mercury  of  January  13,  1735-36,  No.  838,  contains  tlie  well- 
known  lines  from  ''Mr.  Littleton  to  Mr.  Pope,'' 

Immortal  Bard!   for  whom  each  muse  has  wove, 
The  fairest  garland  of  the  Phocian  Grove: 

Oh!  Born  our  drooping  genius  to  restore, 
When  Addison  and  Congreve  are  no  more. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Pennsylvania  Gazette 

When  the  subscribers  of  The  Universal  Instructor 
read  their  paper  on  October  2,  1729,  they  must  have 
been  conscious  that  the  new  editorial  policy  meant 
a  change  in  the  character  of  the  weekly.     It  was 
clear  that  they  could  no  longer  doze  over  encyclo- 
pedic information,  although  if  any  readers  had  found 
this  especially  delightful,  they  could  look  forward 
to  being  regaled  occasionally  in  the  old  manner. 
Franklin,  ever  wise  and  canny,  gave  up  nothing  in 
the  Instructor  that  might  conceivably  have  met^  a 
demand.     He  merely  provided  for  clumsy  material 
in  a  new  and  convenient  way.     And  how  refreshing 
to  most  of  his  readers  must  have  been  the  new  edi- 
tor's bland  announcement^  that  ^^upon  a  view  of 
Chambers's  great  Dictionaries  ...  we  find  that  be- 
sides their  containing  many  Things  abstruse  or  in- 
significant to  us,  it  will  probably  be  fifty  Years 
before  the  Whole  can  be  gone  thro'  in  this  Manner 
of  Publication ;  .  .  .  and  since  it  is  likely  that  they 
who  desire  to  acquaint  themselves  with  any  particu- 
lar Art  or  Science,  would  gladly  have  the  whole 
before  them  in  much  less  time,  we  believe  our  Read- 
ers will  not  think  such  a  Method  of  communicating 
Knowledge  to  be  a  proper  One." 

^See  Editorial  Preface  to  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  October  2, 
1729,  reprinted  in  Writings  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth, 
Vol.  II,  p.  155. 

93 


94       LITEEARY  INFLUENCES  IN    COLONIAL   NEWSPAPERS 

As  to  the  Religions  Courtship,  which  had  been 
''retard  to  the  Publick  in  these  Papers,"-  Franklin 
boldly  announced  its  forthcoming  publication,  en- 
tire. But,  unfortunately,  neither  in  the  bibliog- 
raphies of  Philadelphia  reprints,  nor  in  his  own  book 
notices  in  the  Gazette  can  be  found  any  clear  evi- 
dence that  it  ever  issued  from  his  press.  Twice 
before  1740  it  is  advertised  in  the  Gazette^  as  ''just 
imported,"  once  along  with  scales,  compasses  and 
sealing  wax.  Probably  the  matter  had  simply 
drifted  along  as  an  intention  in  Franklin's  mind, 
until  he  found  the  book  easy  to  procure  from  Lon- 
don, when  he  naturally  abandoned  the  idea  of  put- 
ting a  reprint  through  his  own  press.  Moreover, 
his  publications  were  almost  all  of  the  obviously 
practical  order. 

The  greatest  difficulty  which  confronts  us  in  speak- 
ing of  the  Gazette  is  its  very  wealth  of  interest. 
Whether  its  wit,  its  vivid  and  remarkable  news 
items,  or  its  quaint  advertisements  be  in  question, 
we  find  a  mine  of  unworked  material  everywhere. 
Nearly  all  the  best  original  essays  and  tales  in  the 
Gazette,  however,  have  been  reprinted  in  the  various 
editions  of  Franklin's  writings  and  often  commented 
upon.  Nearly  all,  be  it  noted.  One  or  two  unpub- 
lished pieces  in  Franklin's  best  manner  remain  to 
be  treated.  For  the  rest,  the  unworked  literary 
material  is  largely  of  a  mediocre  order,  though  often 
interesting  and  significant  from  many  points  of  view. 
But  at  least  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  pause  over 

^  See  Editorial  Preface. 

^  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  No.  415,  November  18,  1736,  and  No. 
463,  October  20,  1737. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE 


95 


The  Witch  Trial  at  Mount  Holly,^  the  Meditation 
on  a  Quart  Mugg,^  the  Letter  from  Celia  Single,^ 
the  Apologij  for  Printers;  or  other  well-known 
pieces  showing  only  the  barest  resemblance  in  form 
to  a  literary  model.  A  bare  resemblance  to  the 
Spectator,  certainly  will  not  be  denied  in  the  case  of 
the  fictitious  letters,  which  had  at  their  best  already 
ceased  to  be  consciously  imitative.  Franklin  was 
drawing  the  follies  of  his  own  provincial  town  with 
bold,  free  strokes. 

At  the  same  time  his  literary  enthusiasms  were 
not  less  conscious.     So  late  as  April  4,  1734,  the 
Gazette  has  a  delightful  letter,  introducing  a  Spec- 
tator   paper    on    slander.      The    introductory    re- 
marks gravely  addressed  to  ''Mr.  Franklin''  can  be 
from  no  other  hand  than  his.     The  ascription  will 
not  be  questioned  in  view  of  the  fact  that  all  his 
tantalizing    wit,    all    the    flavor    of    his    individual 
method,  are  in  them.     No  doubt  Franklin  was  gaily 
answering  his  rival's  taunts  as  to  "a  good  nose  at 
an  innuendo"^  with  a  counter  accusation  of  direct 
slander,  also  supported  by  a  Spectator  paper,  and 
plainly  aimed  at  the  Mercury,  as  the  word  ''weekly" 
shows.     There  was  no  other  weekly  in  Philadelphia 
at  the  time.     Since  this  letter  in  the  columns  of  the 
Gazette  furnishes  one  more  direct  and  hitherto  un- 
published evidence  of  Franklin's  veneration  for  Ad- 
dison, it  will  be  worth  while  to  quote  a  portion  of  it. 

*See  The  Tennsylvania  Gazette,  October  22,  1730. 
^  Ibid.,  July  19,  1733. 
« Ibid.,  July  24,  1732. 
'Ibid.,  June  10,  1731. 
^Vide  supra,  p.  88. 


96      LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

*^Tho'  your  News-paper  is  sometimes  as  empty 
as  those  of  others,'^  he  begins,  merrily  addressing 
himself,  '^yet  I  think  you  have  for  the  most  part 
(tho' you  were  once  in  one  particular  a  sad  Offender) 
had  the  Modesty  to  keep  it  pretty  clear  of  Scandal, 
a  Subject  that  others  delight  to  wallow  in.  These 
People,  probably  from  some  Corruption  in  them- 
selves .  .  .  seem  to  think  everything  around  them 
tainted:  But  that  they  may  see  their  own  Picture, 
and  learn  to  know  what  they  are  doing  weekly,  pray 
let  your  Paper  hold  the  following  Glass  to  them,  and 
as  they  like  the  Figure  they  may  proceed  for  the 
future;  others,  however,  will  find  by  it  what  Judg- 
ment to  make  of  them.  It  is  a  Performance  of  the 
immortal  Mr.  Addison,  who  to  his  own  and  the  last- 
ing Honour  of  the  English  Nation,  labour 'd  hard, 
and  sometimes  with  Success,  to  reform  the  Follies 
and  Vices  of  his  Country."  The  four  hundred  and 
fifty-first  Spectator  follows. 

But  Franklin  did  not  always  use  literature  to  read 
a  lecture  to  his  rivals.  Often  he  inserted  a  paper, 
like  the  four  hundred  and  twenty-second  Spectator, 
on  raillery,^  or  a  sermon  of  his  revered  Tillotson, 
for  the  mere  edification  of  his  readers.  ^^I  consid- 
ered my  newspaper,  also,  as  another  means  of  com- 
municating instruction,"  he  says  in  the  Autohiog- 
raphy,^^  ^'and  in  that  view  frequently  reprinted  in 
it  extracts  from  the  Spectator,  and  other  moral  writ- 
ers; and  sometimes  published  little  pieces  of  my  own, 

®  Reprinted  in  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  April  18,  1734. 
"  In   Writings  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  ed.   A.   H.   Smyth,  Vol.   I, 
p.  343. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  97 

which,  had  been  first  composed  for  reading  in  our 
Junto.'' 

Among  these  ^4ittle  pieces"  of  his  own,  yet  cer- 
tainly not  written  for  the  Junto,  nor  mentioned  in 
the  Autobiography,  is  the  letter  from  Marcus^ ^  on 
the  increase  of  infidelity.  Surely  no  one  else  in 
provincial  Philadelphia  of  1732  was  capable  of  the 
Defoe-like  irony  in  this  letter.  The  first  half  of  it 
might  be  taken  seriously  enough  as  one  of  the  in- 
numerable essays  against  infidelity  found  in  every 
eighteenth-century  periodical.  Slowly  it  must  have 
dawned  upon  shocked  readers  of  the  Gazette  as  they 
came  to  the  second  half,  that  '^Marcus"  was  satiriz- 
ing just  such  dull,  incontestable  statements  as  com- 
posed the  ordinary  treatise  on  infidelity  in  general, 
and,  in  particular,  an  unfortunate  specimen  of  the 
sort  in  the  Mercury  of  the  previous  week.  The 
irony  is  not  equally  well  sustained  throughout,  and 
could  scarcely  have  deceived  his  enemies,  yet  one  is 
tempted  to  believe  that  Franklin  knew  more  of  Defoe 
at  this  time  than  the  Religious  Courtship  and  the 
Essay  upon  Projects. 

Marcus  attacks  the  ^^  prodigious  Growth  of  Infi- 
delity among  us"  with  perfect  gravity,  saying  that 
all  persuasions  have  joined  against  it.  ^'How  unac- 
countable is  this  strange  Eace  of  Unbelievers! 
Often  have  they  been  attacked  with  great  Strength 
and  Judgment,  by  the  worthy  Advocates  of  our  com- 
mon Cause;  but  never  so  effectually  as  in  the  last 
Week's  Mercury:  Fortius  has  afforded  a  Blow  that 
staggers  even  the  stoutest  of  'em ;  and  needs  only  to 

"  See  The  Fennsylvania  Gazette,  March  23,  1732. 
8 


98       LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

be  well  followed  to  cause  their  entire  Overthrow.  I 
therefore  add  my  Force  to  his,  and,  to  their  utter 
Confusion,  I  design  in  the  following  Discourse,  to 
advance  Five  Hundred  several  Propositions,  Doc- 
trines, or  Matters  of  Belief,  each  of  which  shall  be 
clear  to  the  Understanding,  convincing  to  the  Judg- 
ment, undeniable  by  the  most  perverse  Sceptic.  .  .  . 
I  shall  begin,  by  observing.  That  whoever  abandons 
a  Truth  he  was  once  in  possession  of,  may  be  said 
to  relinquish  that  Truth;  and  if,  in  its  room,  he 
cleaves  to  Falshood,  he  certainly  adheres  to  Error. 
This  being  granted  me,  I  infer,  that  in  order  to  his 
Amendment  there  ought  to  be  a  Reformation;  be- 
cause, .  .  .  every  Offender  is  undeniably  a  Delin- 
quent. ' ' 

Although  Marcus  did  not  deceive,  he  did  confuse 
his  enemies;  and  several  weeks  afterwards^^  he  ex- 
pressed surprise  that  "a  Gentleman  of  such  pro- 
found Thought  as  the  Remarker  in  the  last  Mercury 
should  declare  he  cannot  understand  them  (his  prin- 
ciples). One  would  imagine  that  any  Thing  might 
more  justly  be  accus'd  of  Obscurity,  than  Principles 
so  clear  and  perspicuous,  even  ready  to  burst  with 
Self-evidence.  But  there  are  certain  Birds,  of 
notable  Gravity,  whom  too  much  Light  rendereth 
blind.''  Of  course  there  is  no  proof  that  Franklin 
himself  wrote  these  jesting  satires.  He  had  fairly 
able  assistants  in  his  printing  business,  and  the  Junto 
always  at  hand  to  call  upon.  The  one  thing  certain 
is  that  they  are  done  in  Franklin's  characteristic 
manner. 

"April  13,  1732. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  99 

The  Gazette  had  more  boisterous  fun  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  English  writer  for  the  Mercury,  ^^a  cox- 
comb from  Europe,"  as  he  is  described  in  the 
Gazette,  We  are  first  told  of  a  sagacious  farmer 
who  owned  pigs  of  celebrated  English  breed,  and 
who  insisted  that  ^'they  think  they  have  more  Sense 
and  Merit  than  the  rest  of  my  Pigs."  The  Gazette 
then  hastens  to  make  the  application:  "Had  they 
been  brought  from  some  Place  near  Westminster 
Hall,  who  knows  but  it  might  have  been  obvious  to 
everybody?"  This  was  not  enough,  but  the  poor 
Englishman  must  be  lampooned  again  by  a  pre- 
tended letter  to  the  Gazette,  purporting  to  be  his 
own  vindication  of  himself,  but  really,  of  course,  a 
more  ridiculous  exhibition  of  coxcombry  than  ever. 
It  is  ironically  apologetic,  hopes  there  will  be  no 
aifront  to  ''the  Majority  of  my  Eeaders;  for  con- 
sidering the  little  Time  I  have  been  in  the  Country, 
it  cannot  be  supposed  they  have  gain'd  much  Knowl- 
edge of  the  polite  Arts."  No  doubt  Franklin  had  a 
very  genuine  dislike  for  snobbish  pretension  of  every 
kind,  as  well  as  the  desire  to  lampoon  a  rival. 

Mirth  and  jesting  in  the  pages  of  the  Gazette  ex- 
tend all  the  way  from  dignified  irony  to  puns  and 
ancient  jokes.  On  one  occasion,  ''Memory"  sends 
a  complaint  (whether  real  or  pretended  we  cannot 
know)  to  the  Gazette, '^^  protesting  against  all  the  old 
stories  revamped  as  news.  Franklin  gravely 
answers  that  the  letter  should  have  been  directed  to 
the  Mercury!  An  impartial  reader  feels  that  it 
might  have  been  appropriately  enough  sent  to  either 

^"November  2,  1732. 


100    LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

office.  Puns  of  all  sorts  abound  in  the  Gazette,  some- 
times elaborately  worked  out  in  various  conceits, 
like  Chatterbox's  history  of  the  box  family,^ ^  an 
imitation  of  Bickerstaff's  genealogy  of  the  staff s.^^ 
Humor  of  this  sort  was  abundantly  relished,  and 
could  have  been  found  in  many  English  papers  of 
the  period.  The  genealogy,  in  particular,  came  to  be 
a  recognized  form  of  satire,  a  convenient  way  of 
giving  your  enemy  unpleasant  forbears.  Such  Eng- 
lish satires  as  The  Genealogy  of  a  Jacobite  were 
eventually  reprinted  in  many  American  papers. 

But  neither  high  nor  low  comedy  always  sparkled 
in  the  Gazette.  Innumerable  mediocre  essays  filled 
the  long  stretches  of  dull  winters.  Some  have  been 
attributed  to  Franklin,  on  more  or  less  insufficient 
evidence. ^^  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  makes  very  little 
difference  who  wrote  The  Waste  of  Life,^'^  or  True 
Happiness, ^^  since  almost  any  one  could  turn  out 
such  pieces  of  uninspired  moral  wisdom  on  the  old 
model  of  the  Spectator  essay.  The  important  thing 
to  note  is  that  this  model  persisted,  along  with 
Franklin's  own  characteristic  development  of  it. 
The  ordinary  treatment  of  benevolence,  temperance, 
simplicity  of  heart,  need  not  detain  us.  There  are, 
however,  two  or  three  unpublished  essays  of  this 
sort,  with  so  delightful  a  flavor  of  Poor  Richard 
about  them,  that  they  can  scarcely  be  left  without 

"  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  January  4,  1733. 
^5  See  The  Tatler,  No.  11. 

^*  See  Writings  of  Benjamin  Franlclin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  Vol.  II, 
Treface. 

"  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  No.  414,  November  11,  1736. 
"  Ibid.,  No.  363,  November  13,  1735. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GA7ST1E  -i.Oi; 

mention.  It  is  as  if  Poor  Eichard  were  to  write  his 
philosophy  on  the  deeper  values  of  life,  in  Addi- 
sonian phrase,  with  due  regard  to  all  the  proprieties 
of  religion  and  ethics. 

One  of  these  charming  pieces  treats  of  visiting  the 
sick.^^  After  the  dignified  statement  that  man  of  all 
creatures  has  the  greatest  number  of  diseases  to  his 
share,  and  after  a  solemn  exhortation,  based  on  the 
parable  of  the  good  Samaritan  as  a  text,  the  whole 
ends  with  this  clinching  argument,  addressed  to 
those  worldly  readers  whose  hard  hearts  may  have 
been  untouched  by  the  above  sermon:  '^If  the  Con- 
siderations of  Eeligion  and  Humanity  have  not  the 
Effect  they  ought  to  have  on  the  Minds  of  some,  per- 
haps this  Observation,  which  generally  holds  true, 
may  have  its  weight  with  the  Self-interested,  That 
there  are  no  Kindnesses  done  by  one  Man  to  another, 
which  are  remembered  so  long,  and  so  frequently 
returned  with  Gratitude,  as  those  received  in  Sick- 
ness, whether  they  are  only  present  Comforts,  or 
assist  in  restoring  Health." 

Another  on  wisdom,-^  or  ^^a  prudent  Management 
of  ourselves  in  Affairs  and  Conversation"  has  the 
same  philosophy, — the  very  essence  of  '^Honesty  is 
the  best  policy, ' '  put  in  literary  form.  Here  there  is 
less  preliminary  appeal  to  the  lovers  of  morality 
for  its  own  sake.  ^^The  Cardinal  Virtue  of  Life, 
with  respect  to  others,  is  to  acquire  and  maintain  a 
good  Reputation,  suited  to  the  station  we  are  placed 
in.    Among  an  Hundred  other  weighty  Eeasons,  this 

"  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  March  18,  1731. 
«Ibid.,  March  25,  1731. 


102    LITEEAEY  l^^rFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPEES 

is  one,  that  a  good  Eeputation  is  the  most  infallible 
Means  of  Success  in  our  Aims  and  Endeavours,  that 
the  uncertainty  of  Worldly  Things  admits  of.  A 
Man  who  takes  Care  to  preserve  a  general  good 
Character,  will  hardly  fail  of  compassing  his  Ends 
some  Time  or  other/'  A  more  direct  application  of 
the  same  cheerful,  worldly  morality  may  be  seen  in 
the  excellent  letter  of  Philanthropos,^!  very  much  in 
the  general  style  of  the  Spectator,  on  the  advisability 
of  introducing  poor  young  men  of  promise  to  busi- 
ness. ^'It  is  no  uncommon  Thing,"  says  Philan- 
thropos,  ^'to  see  Men  of  ingenuous  Education,  shin- 
ing Abilities  and  Largeness  of  Heart,  as  the  Sand 
upon  the  Sea-Shore ;  who  would  be  capable  of  adorn- 
ing almost  any  Post  of  Honour  and  Service,  .  .  . 
restrained  by  the  Narrowness  of  their  Fortunes,  .  .  . 
from  doing  the  Grood  they  desire,  and  are  eminently 
accomplished  for:  Whereas  it  might  have  been  the 
easiest  Thing  imaginable,  for  Men  in  superior  Cir- 
cumstances to  have  introduced  them  into  Business." 
Now  and  then  the  return  to  the  Spectator  model 
is  even  closer,  as  in  the  humorous  letter  of  N.  N.,^^ 
complaining  of  the  icy  streets  of  Philadelphia,  and 
commending  the  good  old  woman  who  had  sprinkled 
ashes  before  her  door.  The  unkind  ridicule  of  those 
passers-by  who  had  laughed  at  his  recent  tumble  is 
set  forth  with  amusing  seriousness  and  in  a  lofty, 
Addisonian  temper.  Also,  when  Z  gives  an  account 
of  himself,^^  it  is  quite  in  the  general  manner  of  Mr. 
Spectator's  first  autobiographical  hints. ^^ 

^^  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  June  19,  1732. 

2=^  Ibid.,  January  4,  1733. 

="  Ibid.,  No.  397,  July  8,  1736. 

"  See  Spectator,  No.  1. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE 


103 


Verse  in  the  Gazette,  unless  directly  quoted  from 
Milton  or  Pope,  is  weak  doggerel,  especially  when 
compared  with  the  really  excellent  lines  abounding 
in  the  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  weeklies.    Frank- 
lin's  enthusiasms  in  poetry  were  capable  of  leading 
him  to  Stephen  Duck,  whose  effusions  appear  again 
and  again  in  the  Gazette.    Duck's  personal  history, 
too,  is  given  at  length  in  the  Gazette,  evidently  as  an 
example  of  industry  and  thrift,— another  reinforce- 
ment of  Poor  Richard's  ideas.    Indeed,  one  cannot 
escape   the    suspicion   that   Franklin   admired   the 
poetry  for  the  sake  of  the  man.     Young  Stephen 
Duck,  a  poor  thresher  in  a  Wiltshire  barn,  at  four 
shillings   six  a  week,  who  read  his  poem   on   The 
Thresher's  Labour  before  her  Majesty  at  Windsor, 
was  rewarded  not  only  with  thirty  pounds  a  year  but 
also  with  a   small  house   at   Richmond.     Franklin 
readily  assumed  that  the  talent  which  brought  such 
tangible  rewards  was  a  real  poetic  gift;  and  there 
is  no  indication  that  he  thought  Duck's  poems  in  need 
of  apology  or  justification.    The  Thresher's  Lab  our, ^^ 
The  Shunamite,^''  On  Poverty,^'  Royal  Benevolence''^ 
are   reprinted   in   all   their   tedious   length   in   the 
Gazette.    Such  lines  as  these  make  Pope's  ridicule 
seem  even  mild : 

Thus  when  a  tim'rous  Man,  in  Fears  grown  old, 
Reminds  the  Fairy  Tales  his  Nurse  has  told ; 
In  the  dark  Night  he  oft  will  sideways  squint, 
And  see  a  goblin  when  there's  nothing  in't/ 

"  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  January  19,  1731. 

2«Ibid.,  March  11,  1731. 

« Ibid.,  January  26,  1731. 

'^Ibid.,  December  28,  1731. 

"From  Stephen  Duck's  poem,  On  Fcnjerty. 


^5 
29 


104    LITEBAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

For  Milton  and  Pope  Franklin  had  a  very  sincere 
admiration,  while  he  certainly  was  well  acquainted 
with  Thomson,  as  his  private  mannaP^  shows.  The 
stock  quotation  from  Milton,  the  famous,  ^^Hail, 
wedded  Love!^'  is  given  as  usual  in  an  essay  on  mar- 
riage^^  and  Thomson's  lines  beginning: 

But  happy  they,  the  happiest  of  their  kind, 
Whom  gentler  stars  unite, 

are  quoted  in  the  same  piece.  Since  quotations  of 
this  sort  were  the  property  of  every  Grub  street 
scribbler  on  the  hackneyed  theme  of  matrimony,^^ 
they  prove  very  little.  More  significant  is  the  fact 
that  in  the  first  catalogue  of  the  Library  Company,^^ 
organized  by  Franklin,  a  rare  catalogue  of  1741,  we 
find  not  only  a  Complete  Collection  of  the  Works  of 
Mr,  John  Milton,  in  two  volumes,  but  also  a  1730 
Paradise  Lost,  Paradise  Regained,  and  Samson 
Agonistes.  Again  we  must  remind  ourselves  that 
in  Cotton  Mather 's  great  and  important  library  there 
is  no  edition  of  Paradise  Lost.    Increase  Mather  in 

^°''I  used  also  sometimes,"  Franklin  says  in  the  Autobiography, 
' '  a  little  prayer  which  I  took  from  Thomson 's  Poems,  viz : 

'Father  of  light  and  life,  thou  Good  Supreme! 
O  teach  me  what  is  good;  teach  me  Thyself! 
Save  me  from  folly,  vanity,  and  vice. 
From  every  low  pursuit;   and  fill  my  soul 
With  knowledge,  conscious  peace,  and  virtue  pure; 
Sacred,  substantial,  never-fading  bliss \'  " 
Writings  of  Benjamin  FranTclin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  Vol.  I,  p.  332. 

"In  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  No.  326,  February  25,  1734. 
"For  examples,  see  The  WeeTcly  Register,  September  30,  1732,  and 
The  Grubstreet  Journal,  No.  305,  October  30,  1735. 
^  In  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society 's  collection. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE 


105 


1664  had  Milton's  Defence  of  Smectymnuus^^  and  the 
Defensio  Popiili  Anglicani.  The  little  catalogue  of 
Franklin's  Library  Company,  though  not  perhaps 
directly  connected  with  his  newspaper  or  his  period- 
ical, has  such  a  vital  relation  to  his  bookselling 
and  printing  interests,  that  the  literary  section  of  it, 
at  least,  deserves  a  place  here.  Besides  the  copies 
of  Milton  noted  above,  the  catalogue  notes : 

'Written  by  some  of  the 


Spectators,  8  vols. 
Tattlers,  4  vols. 
Guardians,  2  vols. 


most  ingenious  INIen  of 
the  Age,  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  Virtue,  Piety  and 
good  Manners." 

Don  Quixote.     Original  and  Translation. 

Steele's  Dramatick  Works 

The  Ladies'  Lihrary^^ 

Dryden 
Waller 
Cowley 
Rowe 
Pope 
Voltaire 
Arbuthnot 
Bacon 
Locke 

Shaftesbury 
Gay 

Edmund  Spencer 
Works j    Dryden 's  Virgil 
j    Xenophon 

"  See  Proceedings  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  for  April, 
1910,  for  a  full  account  of  the  libraries  of  the  Mathers  by  Mr.  Julius 
Herbert  Tuttle,  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

"Probably  Steele's. 


106    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Epictetus 

Plutarch 

Cicero 

Plato 

Horace 

Swift 

Congreve 

Sallust 

Juvenal 

Persius 

The  Tiu'kish  Spy 

Addison's  Miscellaneous  Worhs,  in  Verse  and 

Prose,  3  vols. 
Hudihras 
Cato's  Letters 

To  this  library  not  only  tradesmen  like  Breintnal 
and  Franklin  contributed,  but  important  citizens  of 
the  town;  and  it  is  safe  to  conjecture  that  through- 
out the  length  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  in  1740,  there 
was  not  such  a  collection  of  pure  literature  access- 
ible to  common  folk.  Even  the  private  ecclesiastical 
libraries  of  Massachusetts  had  no  such  volumes. 
Wealthy  Virginian  planters  like  Colonel  William 
Byrd,  as  well  as  fairly  prosperous  citizens  in  all  the 
towns  could  show  their  well-stocked  '^secretaries.'' 
But  this  meant  that  they  were  rich  enough  to  order 
from  Europe. 

In  Franklin's  case,  books  were  constantly  passing 
through  his  book  shop  and  his  printing  press.  Mag- 
azines from  London,  too,  furnished  him  with  literary 
tid-bits  and  gossip  of  all  sorts.  The  Gazette  is  by  no 
means  lacking  in  news  of  the  poetic  world.  ''We 
hear  his  Majesty  has  been  pleased  to  grant  to  Mr. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  107 

Gibber  the  place  of  Poet  Laureat,"  is  an  item  of 
January  19,  1731,  only  two  months  late.  Gibber's 
New  Year  ode  is  reprinted  entire  in  the  Gazette  of 
May  19,  1737.  Pope's  epitaph  on  John  Gay's  monu- 
ment at  Westminster,  containing  the  well-known 
lines, 

Of  manners  gentle,  of  affections  mild, 

In  wit  a  man,  simplicity  a  child, 

is  quoted  in  the  Gazette,^^  doubtless  from  The  Lon- 
don Magazine  of  five  months  before,^"  where  it  is 
published  in  full.  Sometimes  a  clever  skit  appear- 
ing in  the  London  periodicals  is  used  in  the  Gazette 
without  acknowledgment,  as  if  it  were  written  by 
one  of  the  regular  staff,  or  a  correspondent.  For  in- 
stance, Isaac  Browne's  Pipe  of  Tobacco,  appearing 
in  The  London  Magazine  of  November  and  Decem- 
ber, 1735,  is  published  in  a  supposed  Letter  to  Mr. 
Franklin,^^  describing  the  London  wit  who  wrote  the 
parody  in  response  to  a  challenge.  The  Pipe  of 
Tobacco  is  really  a  series  of  mock-heroic  burlesques 
on  the  theme,  Tobacco,  One  in  ''Mr.  Pope's  style," 
begins 

Best  Leaf,  whose  Aromatick  Gales  dispence, 
To  Templars  Modesty,  to  Parsons  sense. 

Another  follows  imitating  Young : 

Criticks  avaunt!     Tobacco  is  my  Theme; 

A  third  after  ^^Mr.  Phillips": 

»«No.  413,  November  4,  1736. 

"  June,  1736. 

""See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  No.  400,  August  2,  1736. 


108    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Pretty  Tube  of  mighty  Power, 
Charmer  of  an  idle  hour, 
Object  of  my  hot  desire. 
Lips  of  Wax  and  Eye  of  Fire; 

Last  of  all  a  burlesque  of  Thomson : 

0  Thou  matur'd  by  glad  hesperian  Suns, 
Tobacco !     Fountain  pure  of  limpid  Truth — 

But  far  more  significant  than  such  stray  pieces 
from  London  periodicals,  are  the  advertisements  of 
books  actually  for  sale  in  Franklin's  ^^New  Printing- 
Office  near  the  Market. '  '^^  The  very  fact  that  books 
were  for  sale  in  a  printing-office  takes  us  back  to 
^^ other  times,  other  manners,"  before  the  specializa- 
tion of  business.  Yet  a  printer  of  the  eighteenth 
century  conducted  something  not  unlike  a  depart- 
ment store.  The  development  is  easy  enough  to 
understand,  especially  in  the  provinces.  No  man 
would  be  rash  enough  to  conduct  a  bookstore  alone, 
unless  he  were  a  philanthropist  instead  of  a  business 
man.  A  printer,  however,  needed  large  supplies  of 
paper ;  naturally  he  might  add  an  order  of  stationery 
for  the  retail  trade  without  an  appreciable  risk,  even 
if  it  were  not  sold.  This  would  lead  to  blank  books, 
legal  forms  and  writing  materials,  for  which  the 
demand  was  steady  and  certain.  Very  cautiously 
Bibles  and  text-books  could  be  added.  At  length  an 
invoice  of  ordinary  stationer's  goods  would  contain 
an  odd  volume  or  two,  picked  up  accidentally,  no  one 
knows  how,  probably  under  the  auctioneer's  ham- 
mer, or  in  a  lot  of  second-hand  supplies.    To  adver- 

'^  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  February  16,  1731. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  109 

tise  them  in  one's  own  paper  would  cost  only  the 
required  space,  and  might  lead  to  a  sale.  Hence 
such  notices  as  ^'Scales,  compasses,  sealing  wax,  and 
Religions  C our t ship *'^^  are  not  infrequent  through- 
out the  colonial  press,  though  nowhere  so  unique  or 
so  interesting  as  in  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette. 
Franklin,  the  born  book-lover,  took  an  unusual  risk 
in  his  favorite  commodity,  regarding  a  book  as  a 
personal  luxury,^^  and  a  means  of  benevolence  at  the 
same  time.  If  it  did  not  sell,  he  could  present  it  with 
considerable  eclat  to  the  Library  Company.  With 
all  his  shrewdness,  Franklin  was  generous. 

Yet  even  he  has  recorded  the  timid  steps  by  which 
he  became  a  bookseller.  ^'I  now^^  open'd  a  little 
Stationer's  shop,"  he  says  in  the  Autohiography.^^ 
**I  had  in  it  blanks  of  all  sorts,  the  correctest  that 
ever  appear 'd  among  us,  being  assisted  in  that  by  my 
friend  Breintnal.  I  had  also  paper,  parchment, 
chapmen's  books,  etc."  Again,  in  the  Autobiog- 
raphy^^ he  gives  important,  though  careless  testi- 
mony to  the  difficulty  of  the  book-trade.  ' '  At  the  time 
I  establish 'd  myself  in  Pennsylvania,  there  was  not 
a  good  bookseller's  shop  in  any  of  the  colonies  to 
the  southward  of  Boston.  In  New  York  and  Philad  'a 
the  printers  were  indeed  stationers;  they  sold  only 
paper,  etc.,  almanacs,  ballads,  and  a  few  common 

*"  Vide  supra,  p.  94  and  note  3. 

*^ ' '  A  book,  indeed,  sometimes  debauch  'd  me  from  my  work,  but 
that  was  seldom,  snug,  and  gave  no  scandal."  Autobiography,  in 
Writings  of  Benjamin  FranMin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  Vol.  I,  p.  308. 

*2  About  1730. 

*^  In  Writings  of  Benjamin  FranMin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smyth,  Vol.  I, 
p.  307. 

"  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  321. 


110    LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

school-books.  Those  who  lov'd  reading  were  oblig'd 
to  send  for  their  books  from  England ;  the  members 
of  the  Junto  had  each  a  few/'  Mr.  Delano  Goddard, 
in  his  interesting  article  on  The  Press  and  Litera- 
ture of  the  Provincial  Period,'^^  says  decisively, 
'^  There  were  no  accessible  collections  of  books  in  the 
country,  and  there  was  no  book-buying  class.''  He 
also  thinks^^  that  the  "remarkable  literary  revival 
of  Queen  Anne's  reign  was  little  observed  or  felt 
here.  The  earliest  catalogues  of  books  make  little 
mention  of  the  writers  who  were  at  that  time  giving 
imperishable  glory  to  our  language." 

Probably  all  these  statements  err  a  little  on  the 
dark  side.  No  one  will  deny,  of  course,  that  good 
bookstores  were  lacking,  according  to  modern  ideas, 
or  even  according  to  Franklin's  ideas.  Yet  we  must 
not  let  ourselves  forget  that  in  a  country  where  nearly 
all  the  influential  culture  is  religious  culture,  secular 
books  of  whatever  sort,  excepting  school  texts,  will 
not  be  at  a  premium.  This  will  have  two  important 
results.  One  is  that  a  bookseller  will  naturally 
advertise  his  religious  and  theological  treatises,  put 
them  in  his  show  window  to  catch  the  public  eye. 
Very  well.  It  does  not  follow  that  if  you  stepped 
into  his  shop  and  asked  for  The  Beggar's  Opera, 
you  would  not  find  it.  And  secondly,  where  all  secu- 
lar literature,  good  or  bad,  takes  its  place  among 
worldly  delights,  and  fleshly  vanities,  we  may  expect 
to  find  it  advertised  in  the  most  unexpected  frivolous 
connections.    This  is  exactly  what  we  do  find;  it  is 

"  In  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  II,  chap.  XV,  p.  412. 
*•  Ibid. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  111 

not  safe  to  assume  that  an  advertisement  of  head- 
dresses and  slippers  will  not  have  the  Tale  of  a  Tub 
tucked  away  in  the  middle  of  it.  That  is  to  say, 
hatters  and  clothiers  sometimes  imported  books 
along  with  their  other  miscellaneous  merchandise. 

What  could  be  more  surprising  than  Peter 
Turner's  advertisement^^  of  Superfine  Scarlet  Cloth, 
Hat  Linings,  Tatlers,  Spectators j  and  Barclay's 
Apology?  Turner  retailed  his  goods  near  Market 
Street  wharf,"*^  a  favorable  spot  for  merchandise 
from  the  incoming  vessels.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
probably  never  deliberately  imported  just  the  assort- 
ment which  he  finally  took  into  his  shop.  Cargoes 
for  America  were  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made  up 
of  odd  lods  of  merchandise  jumbled  together. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  John  Hyndshaw,  the  book- 
seller, advertised  in  the  Gazette,'^^  he  confined  his 
lists  almost  entirely  to  Bibles,  Testaments,  Psalters, 
Primers,  Prayer  Books  and  Texts.  But  we  cannot 
suppose  that  he  had  nothing  of  secular  interest  in  his 
shop,  any  more  fairly  than  we  could  assume  to-day 
that  a  store  window  flaming  with  best  sellers  neces- 
sarily indicates  a  shop  in  which  Gibbon's  Decline 
and  Fall  is  not  to  be  had. 

Franklin's  own  early  advertisement^^  was  per- 
fectly conventional  and  commercial.  In  1731  he 
advertised  only  '' Jerman's  and  Godfrey's  almanacs. 
Bibles,    Testaments,    Psalters,    Psalm-Books,     (in 

*^  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  No.  534,  March  1,  1738-39. 
*«See  The  American  Mercury,  No.  1010,  May  3,  1739,  for  Turner's 
advertisement. 
*^  March  18,  1731. 
^°  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  February  16,  1731. 


112    LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN  COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

large,  heavy  type)  Accompt-Books,  Pocket-Books, 
Bills  of  Lading  bound  and  unbound,  Common  Blank 
Bonds  for  Money,  Bonds  with  Judgment,  Counter- 
bonds,  Arbitration  Bonds,''  and  so  on  through  all 
the  legal  forms  in  common  use  at  the  time.  We  next 
find  a  notice  of  ^'Archbishop  Tillotson's  Works  com- 
pleat  in  3  volumes,  sold  by  the  Printer  hereof,''  and 
in  the  same  notice.  The  Traditions  of  the  Clergy 
destructive  of  Religion;  ivith  an  Enquiry  into  the 
Grounds  and  Reasons  of  such  Traditions:  A 
Sermon,^^ 

The  little  nucleus  of  a  bookstore  existed  by  1731. 
But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Bradford  also  im- 
ported books;  and  when  a  new  invoice  came  in,  he 
was  likely  to  advertise  it  in  the  Mercury  under  the 
heading,  ''Just  imported,"  or  "Lately  imported 
from  London."  Probably  neither  Bradford  nor 
Franklin  printed  a  complete  list  even  of  the  newest 
books,  and  certainly  no  complete  list  of  all  the  vol- 
umes on  sale.  Nothing,  however,  could  furnish  a 
more  significant  contrast  than  a  comparison  of  the 
book  advertisements  in  the  two  papers.  Parallel 
lists  between  1730  and  1740  will  show  Bradford's 
conservatism  and  Franklin's  ever  growing  attempt 
to  make  literature  accessible. 

The  American  Mercury  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette 


Catalogue  of  Books  for  Sale  For  Sale  by  Franklin. 

by  A.  Bradford  Robinson    Crusoe,    2    Vols., 

Popery  Anatomized  advertised  in  the  Gazette 

Catechistical  Guide  to  Sin-  in  1734. 
ners 

"  See  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  March  23,  1732. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  113 

{Mercury,  cont.)  {Gazette,  cont.) 


The  Popish  Labyrinth 
The  Plain  Man's  Path-way 

to  Heaven 
Byfi  eld's    Marrow     of    the 

Oracles 
Cimninghani  's       Warnings, 

Prayers  and  Hymns. 
No.  626,  Dec.  21,  1731. 


Lately  Imported  from  Lon- 
don 
To  be  Sold  by  A.  Bradford 
Spectators 
Tattlers 
Guardians 
Cato's  Letters 
The  Whole  Duty  of  Man 
No.  882,  Nov.  18,  1736. 


[No  other  book  advertise- 
ments in  the  Mercury  up 
to  1740.] 


Religious  Courtship, 

No.  415,  Nov.  18,  1736, 
and  No.  463,  Oct.  20,  1737. 


Just  Imported 

To  be  Sold  by  B.  Franklin 

Crusoe's  Life,  2  vols. 

Bacon's  Essays 

Dryden's  Virgil 

Lock    Of    Human    Under- 
standing 

Milton's  Paradise  Lost 

Ovid's  Epistles 

Otway's  Plays 

Pembroke's  Arcadia 

Pope's  Homer 

Prior 

KoAve's  Lucan 

Stanhope's  Epictetus 

Seneca's  Morals 

Tale  of  a  Tub 

Duck's  Poems 

Many  others  too  tedious  to 
mention. 

No.  494,  May  25,  1738. 


"Glover's   Leonidas. 
Sense,  April  9,  1737. 

9 


Locke's  Works,  3  vols. 
Select  Novels,  6  vols. 
Rabelais,  4  vols. 
Trap's  Virgil,  3  vols. 
Leonidas,  a  Heroick  Poem^^ 
Reviewed   in   the   English   weekly,   Common 


114    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

{Mercury,  cont.)  (Gazette,  cont.) 


Spectators,  8  vols. 
Tatlers,  4  vols. 
Guardians,  2  vols. 
The   Independent    Whig,   2 

vols. 
The  Turkish  Spy,  8  vols. 
Pope's  Homer,  6  vols. 
Bacon's  Essays. 
Arbuthnot  on  Aliments 
Dry  den's  Fahles 
Otway's  Plays 
Prior's  Poems,  2  vols. 
Rowe's  Lucan,  2  vols. 
Seneca's  Morals. 
Craftsman,  14  vols. 
Bunyan 

Stanhope's  Epictetus 
Many  other  Sorts  of  Books, 

too  tedious  to  mention. 

Jan.  11,  1738-39. 

Would  that  he  had  not  thought  the  other  sorts  of 
books  too  tedious  to  mention!  However,  there  is 
still  another  list  before  1740,  which  partly  compen- 
sates for  the  omission.  Into  this  last  advertisement 
it  is  difficult  not  to  believe  that  Franklin  put  some 
of  his  irrepressible  levity. 

Books  sold  by  B.  Franklin 


Bibles  of  several  sorts. 

The  Independent  Whig,  3  vols. 

Tatlers,  4  vols. 

The  Tale  of  a  Tuh 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  115 

Congreve's  Works 

The  Family  Instructor 

The  Art  of  Money-Catching 

The  Duty  of  Prayer 

Cynthia,  a  Novel 

The  Repuhlick  of  Letters 

The  Life  of  our  blessed  Saviour 

The  Garden  of  Love 

The  Ladies'  Delight 

Man's  greai  Interest 

History  of  Dr.  John  Faustus 

London  Jests  and  Cambridge  Jests 

The  Travels  of  our  blessed  Saviour 

Lives  of  the  Apostles 

Fair  Rosamond 

The  Book  of  Knmvledge 

The  Life  and  Death  of  Moll  Flanders. 

No.  582,  Feb.  1,  1739-40. 

So  much  for  book  advertisements  before  1740; 
these,  of  course,  represent  direct  importations  of 
English  books.  American  editions  of  any  sort  are 
much  rarer.  It  is  strange,  that  with  all  Franklin's 
genuine  love  of  books,  he  should  have  cared  so  little 
to  put  standard  English  literature  through  his  own 
press.  Matters  of  transient  importance,  pamphlets 
of  all  sorts,  a  thousand  expostulatory  letters,  apolo- 
gies, answers,  remarks,  kept  his  press  busy,  as  they 
did  other  colonial  printing  houses.  The  profit  from 
them  was  immediate  and  certain.  And  Franklin's 
philanthropy  never  strayed  too  far  from  a  sound 
business  basis.  It  was  one  thing  to  order  a  shipment 
of  good  books  from  London,  knowing  that  if  he  did 
not  sell  them,  he  had  only  expended  something  for 


116    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

his  library,  or  for  the  benevolence  he  was  beginning 
to  be  in  a  position  to  afford ;  it  was  quite  another  to  be 
left  with  an  entire  unsold  edition  of  some  classic  on 
his  hands.  Moreover,  his  press  was  very  busy  with 
the  affairs  of  the  day.  Naturally,  if  he  projected 
reprints,  they  must  wait. 

What  he  did  actually  publish  is  extremely  inter- 
esting, and  reminds  us  that,  after  all,  Franklin  was 
moral  before  he  was  literary;  moral,  that  is,  in  his 
own  particular  utilitarian  way.  He  left  Robinson 
Crusoe  for  Eobert  Bell  to  publish  in  1768,  and  The 
Dreadful  Visitation:  In  a  Short  Account  of  the  Prog- 
ress and  Effects  of  the  Plague  for  Henry  Miller  in 
1767, — and  he  himself  published,  in  1740,  The  Family 
Instructor  in  all  its  three  parts,  the  first  relating  to 
fathers  and  children,  the  second  to  masters  and  serv- 
ants, the  third  to  husbands  and  wives.^^  The  Re- 
ligious Courtship  is  the  only  other  possible  work  of 
Defoe  that  he  touched.  And  to  these  two  reprints 
(if  there  were  two),  he  added  Eichardson's  Pamela 
in  1744.  A  certain  provincial,  vulgar  note  in  Frank- 
lin's own  moral  code  would  draw  him  inevitably  to 
Eichardson's  thrifty,  successful  little  heroine. 

Significant  evidence  of  the  impression  which  all 
these  books  made  upon  him  is  given  us  in  the  Auto- 
biography,^"^ after  Franklin's  admiring  remarks  on 
his  old  favorite,  Bunyan:  ^^  Honest  John  (Bunyan) 
was  the  first  that  I  know  of  who  mix'd  narration  and 
dialogue ;  a  method  of  writing  very  engaging  to  the 
reader,  who  in  the  most  interesting  parts  finds  him- 

"  That  is,  Franklin  reprinted  Vol.  I  of  1715,  not  Vol.  II  of  1718. 
"  See   Writings  of  Benjamin  FranTclin,  ed.  A.   H.   Smyth,  Vol.  I, 
p.  251. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  117 

self,  as  it  were,  brought  into  the  company,  and  pres- 
ent at  the  discourse.  De  Foe  in  his  Cruso,  his  Moll 
Flanders,  Religious  Courtship,  Family  Instructor, 
and  other  pieces,  has  imitated  it  with  success;  and 
Richardson  has  done  the  same  in  his  Pamela,  etc.^' 
The  very  books  which  Franklin  had  either  imported 
or  reprinted.  There  is  no  mention  of  Joseph  An- 
drews, in  which  the  conversation  is  far  more  dra- 
matically handled  than  in  Pamela. 

One  or  two  more  of  Franklin's  reprints  touched 
literature.  He  was  much  interested  in  English 
translations  of  the  Classics,  and  naturally  so,  since 
he  was  not  a  classical  scholar  himself,  and  hardly 
believed  in  a  knowledge  of  the  classical  tongues  for 
the  ordinary  man.  A  good  translation,  therefore, 
was  a  great  public  benefit,  in  his  eyes.  And  to  him 
belongs  the  honor  of  publishing  the  first  translations 
from  the  Classics  made  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
His  friend,  James  Logan,  translated  the  moral  dis- 
tichs  of  the  unknown  Dionysius  Cato  into  English 
couplets,  which  Franklin  published  in  1735.  This 
was  absolutely  the  first  classic  to  be  both  translated 
and  printed  in  the  colonies,  but  when  Franklin  came 
to  publish  Logan's  version  of  the  De  Senectute  nine 
years  later,  he  either  forgot  the  previous  translation 
of  Cato's  distichs,  or  did  not  think  it  of  importance 
as  a  classic,  for  his  preface  to  the  De  Senectute^^ 
assumes  that  to  be  the  ^' first  Translation  of  a  Classic 
in  this  Western  World."  Undoubtedly  this  was  a 
matter  of  great  pride  with  Franklin,  for  he  boasts 

^^Treface  to  Logan's  Translation  of  Cato  Major,  or  his  Discourse 
of  Old  Age.  The  Printer  to  the  Beader.  Eeprinted  in  Writings  of 
Benjamin  FranTclin,  ed.  A.  H.  Smjth,  Vol.  II,  p.  244. 


118    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

a  little  of  ^^the  large  and  fair  Character"  of  his 
type — for  the  especial  benefit,  he  says,  of  those  who 
are  beginning  to  think  of  old  age ! 

Bradford's  press  did  not  reach  even  the  record  of 
Franklin's.  In  1747,  he  did  reprint  his  admired 
Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  with  The  Universal  Prayer 
added.     That  is  all  the  standard  literature  he  touched. 

Both  the  Gazette  and  the  Mercury,  however,  as 
well  as  other  colonial  newspapers,  contain  now  and 
then  stray  notices  and  advertisements  that  throw 
light  on  the  book-owning,  book-loving  public  of  the 
time.  If  libraries  were  few,  lending  was  frequent. 
And  a  book  was  so  important  a  possession  that  it 
was  customary  to  advertise  for  the  volumes  lost, 
just  as  one  might  describe  a  watch  in  the  ^^lost" 
column  to-day.  Particularly  when  the  owner  of  a 
library  died,  his  books  were  apt  to  be  gathered  to- 
gether by  his  executors  in  every  way  possible  before 
the  inventory.  These  inventories  themselves,  where 
they  are  still  in  existence,  form  a  fascinating  subject 
of  investigation,  now  in  progress  in  various  histor- 
ical and  colonial  societies  ;^^  but  since  very  few  of 
the  actual  lists  were  published  in  the  newspapers, 
they  are  a  little  aside  from  the  present  subject.  The 
preliminary  notices,  and  the  ''lent"  notices  are  full 
of  interest,  however. 

The  Hon.  Charles  Eead,  sheriff,  had  a  fine  library, 
as  well  as  a  fine  mansion  to  keep  it  in.  When  An- 
drew Bradford  notified  his  readers^^  of  his  removal 

"  See  the  recent  publications  of  the  Colonial  and  Historical  Societies 
of  Massachusetts,  and  the  many  articles  in  The  Virginia  Magazine  of 
History  and  Biography  and  The  William  and  Mary  College  Quarterly, 

^■^  See  The  American  Mercury,  No.  951,  March  14,  1737-38. 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE  119 

from  Second  Street  to  Front  Street,  at  the  sign  of 
the  Bible,  he  made  the  locality  clear  beyond  a  doubt, 
by  designating  it  as  ''near  Charles  Bead's  corner." 
We  know,  too,  that  Charles  Eead  gave  a  copy  of 
Cato's  Letters,  in  four  volumes,  to  Franklin's  Li- 
brary Company.^^  So  we  are  not  surprised  at  the 
following  notice  in  the  columns  of  the  Gazette.^^ 

''Whereas  the  Library  late  of  Charles  Eead,  Esq., 
is  very  much  dispers'd  and  many  Sets  of  Books 
broken,  particularly  of  the  Spectator,  Tatler,  Guar- 
dian, Conquest  of  Mexico,  Athenian  Oracle,  etc.  .  .  . 
These  are  therefore  to  desire  those  who  have  any 
Books  lately  belonging  to  the  said  Charles  Eead, 
that  .  .  .  they  would  generously  and  gratefully  re- 
turn them. ' ' 

James  Logan,  the  translator,  had  one  of  the  best 
libraries  in  the  province.  It  was  ever  at  Franklin's 
disposal,  so  we  can  imagine  with  what  alacrity 
Franklin  inserted  and  repeated  Logan's  notice: 

"Jugemens  des  Savans,  vol.  7  of  a  set  of  17,  lost 
out  of  a  chaise  on  the  way  to  Germantown.  Owner, 
J.  Logan." 

Franklin  himself  inserted  a  characteristic  adver- 
tisement :^^ 

"The  Person  that  borrowed  B.  Franklin's  Law- 
Book  of  this  Province,  is  hereby  desired  to  return 
it,  he  having  forgot  to  whom  he  lent  it." 

That  all  the  literature  read  in  Philadelphia  was 
religious  or  theological,  could  be  amply  disproved 

«*  Noted  in  the  Catalogue  of  1741,  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 
'  No.  452,  August  4,  1737. 
No.  347,  July  24,  1735. 


B9 

60  -NT, 


120    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN  COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

if  only  through  the  repeated  advertisements  of 
*^Lent,Machiavers  Works/'^^  and  ''Lent, second  vol- 
ume of  Select  Trials  for  Murders,  Robberies,  etc.'^^^ 

Even  Nicholas  Eeddish,  a  saddler,  who  also  re- 
tailed bar  iron  in  Second  Street,  had  his  notice  re- 
peated three  times  in  the  Gazette :^^  "Lent,  and  for- 
got to  whom,  a  large  Geographical  Dictionary. '  ^ 

The  Mercury's  notices  are  somewhat  less  inter- 
esting, since  they  usually  give  no  particular  titles. 
''William  DowelPs  Books  lost  in  his  lifetime  are 
desired  to  be  returned,"  and  "Joseph  Growden's 
Law  Library  to  be  sold  ' '  are  not  valuable  indica- 
tions of  what  was  being  read  in  the  province. 
Once^*  the  second  volume  of  Atterbury's  sermons  is 
advertised  for. 

In  such  out-of-the-way  corners  must  we  look  to 
find  evidences  of  a  love  of  literature  in  the  colonies. 
In  Philadelphia,  at  least,  we  can  show  that  it  was 
being  imitated,  that  it  was  for  sale,  that  it  was  being 
reprinted  to  a  certain  extent,  that  it  was  to  be  had 
in  the  first  public  library, — and  last  of  all  that  it  was 
easy  to  borrow.  Most  of  these  facts  were  due  to 
Benjamin  Franklin,  who  advanced  Philadelphia  in 
so  many  ways  above  her  neighbors.  We  shall  cross 
his  trail  again.^^  For  the  present,  however,  we  take 
our  leave  of  him. 

"  Nos.  472,  474,  475,  476. 

«2Nos.  485-486. 

^  No.  340,  June  5,  1735,  and  following  numbers. 

"^In  Mercury,  No.  1001,  March  1,  1738-39, 

«Vide  infra,  chap.  VIII. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Wak  between  Bkadford's  New  York  Gazette 
AND  Zenger's  New  York  Weekly  Journal 

William  Bradford,  editor  of  the  first  newspaper 
in  New  York,  was  the  father  of  Andrew  Bradford 
of  Philadelphia.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  The 
Neiv  York  Gazette  should  be  of  an  even  more  primi- 
tive type  than  The  American  Mercury.  An  exami- 
nation of  William  Bradford's  little  weekly  for  the 
first  seven  years  of  its  history  shows  that  he  aimed 
to  publish  a  news  sheet  like  Csunp^elVsBosto^iNews- 
Letter.  He  was  not  attempting  any  advance  upon 
the  earlier  method,  and  if  the  presence  of  a  danger- 
ous rival  in  the  field  had  not  at  length  roused  the 
elder  Bradford  to  unwonted  activity,  there  would 
probably  be  little  reason  for  including  his  Gazette 
in  the  present  investigation. 

The  Neiu  York  Gazette  was  established  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  1725.  Incongruous  items  of  foreign 
news,  and  the  shipping  entries  of  several  colonial 
ports  fill  its  columns  from  1725  to  1730.  Occasion- 
ally an  advertisement  of  a  runaway  servant  shows 
the  comparatively  close  connection  between  printing 
offices  in  different  colonies.  For  instance,  we  find 
in  The  New  York  Gazette  of  June  1,  1730:  ''Run 
away  from  William  Parks,  Printer  at  Annapolis  in 
Maryland  a  Servant  Man  named  John  Grime.  .  .  . 
WTioever  brings  him  to  his  said  Master  at  Annapolis, 

121 


122    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

or  to  Andrew  Bradford  in  Philadelphia,  or  William 
Bradford  in  New  York,  shall  have  three  Pounds  Ee- 
ward  and  reasonable  charges/'  Such  slight  indica- 
tions of  mutual  understanding  between  editorial 
offices  are  important  for  our  purpose  chiefly  because 
they  strengthen  the  probability  that  one  colonial 
newspaper  could  influence  another;  a  probability 
which  will  have  a  decided  bearing  on  a  later  chap- 
ter.^ In  Bradford's  Gazette  of  June  25,  1733,  we 
have  direct  literary  news  from  Philadelphia.  The 
address  of  Franklin's  Library  Company  to  the  Pro- 
prietor, William  Penn,  is  given  in  full  in  the  New 
York  weekly. 

Stray  essays,  stories  and  verses  from  the  English 
periodicals  did  find  their  way  into  the  Gazette,  even 
in  these  early  years,  but  it  was  by  the  merest  acci- 
dent. Occasional  literary  material  could  be  found 
in  any  colonial  newspaper,  however  dry  and  bare. 
The  story  from  The  Weekly  Rehearsal,^  reprinted 
in  the  Gazette  of  February  4,  1734,  the  Lesson  for 
bad  Husbands,  from  The  Universal  Spectator,^  re- 
printed in  the  Gazette  of  January  21,  1734,  and  the 
amusing  verses  from  The  London  Journal  extolling 
Gay's  Fables,"*  reprinted  in  the  Gazette  of  July  8, 

^  Vide  infra,  chapter  VIII. 
^January  7,  1733. 
3  August,  1733. 

*  January,  1733-34.     The  verses  represent  a  mother  training  her 
children  in  the  choice  of  literature: 

This  happy  Mother  met,  one  Day, 

A  Book  of  Fables  writ  by  Gay 
And  told  her  Children,  here's  a  Treasure, 

A  Fund  of  Wisdom  and  of  Pleasure! 


WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  123 

1734,  by  themselves  hardly  constitute  literary  influ- 
ence. iVnd  even  though  they  are  by  no  means  the 
only  instances  of  borrowed  '^Essays  in  prose  or 
verse,''  in  the  early  files  of  the  Gazette,  we  are  not 
justified  in  regarding  a  paper  as  literary  in  aim, 
unless  the  literary  form  appears  frequently,  and,  at 
least  to  some  extent,  stimulates  the  native  writers 
to  imitation. 

But  there  are  very  few  original  essays  with  a 
purely  literary  purpose  in  the  Gazette,  Even  those 
that  we  do  find  have  a  strong  tendency  to  point  a 
moral  rather  than  to  adorn  a  tale.  The  correct  dis- 
cipline of  children  is  the  topic  of  several  moral 
treatises,^  interesting  chiefly  for  the  different  points 
of  view  expressed,  either  by  actual  citizens  of  New 
York,  or  through  fictitious  personalities.  In  view 
of  the  evident  lack  of  imagination  in  the  editorial 
office,  there  is  some  probability  that  these  essays  on 
discipline  were  written  by  actual  correspondents. 
The  first  two  treatises  are  anonymous,  and  treat  of 
the  discipline  of  children  and  youths.  We  are  told 
that  parents  ''love  their  little  Ones,  and  it  is  their 
Duty,  but  they  often,  with  them,  cherish  their  Faults 
too;  they  must  not  be  cross 'd  (forsooth!),  they  must 
be  Permitted  to  have  their  wills  in  all  things,  be  they 

Such  Morals!   and  so  finely  Writ! 
Such  Decency,  good  Sense,  and  Wit! 

Her  favorite  son  weeps  at  the  concluding  Fable,  but  his  mother  com- 
forts him  with  the  assurance  that  Queen  Caroline  will  undoubtedly  aid 
the  unfortunate  Gay,  who  deserves  at  least  a  thousand  pounds  a  year. 
Queen  Caroline,  however,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  had  not  aided  the  poet. 
On  her  accession  he  was  given  only  a  small  office,  which  he  indignantly 
refused.  At  this  time  Gay  had  been  dead  two  years. 
^  See  The  New  York  Gazette,  Nos.  403,  404  and  408. 


124    LITEEAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

never  so  wrong."  This  policy,  the  essayist  reminds 
us,  would  be  disastrous  with  a  horse  or  dog!  He 
next  considers  the  vices  of  youth,  in  a  strain  even 
more  serious.  After  several  weeks,  Thomas  Stingo 
answers  the  two  preceding  essays  with  flippant  re- 
marks leading  to  the  conclusion  that  ^' many  (youths) 
will  not  leave  trasing  their  Father's  Foot-Steps.'' 
The  general  style  of  these  essays,  the  Latin  motto, 
and  the  formal  introduction  suggest  a  feeble  attempt 
to  follow  the  Addisonian  model. 

Certainly  Bradford  and  his  staff  correspondents 
knew  the  Spectator  well.  When  the  reckless  young 
journalist,  John  Peter  Zenger,  established  The 
Netv  York  Weekly  Journal  in  the  latter  part  of 
1733,  and  made  it  an  organ  of  bitter  opposi- 
tion to  the  government,  Bradford,  the  ^^ King's 
Printer  for  the  Province  of  New  York,"  turned  im- 
mediately to  the  pages  of  the  Spectator  for  material 
to  quote  against  his  opponent.  The  letter  to  ^^Mr. 
Bradford"  in  the  Gazette  of  January  28,  1734,  must 
have  been  more  or  less  directly  inspired  by  him. 
Since  this  letter  furnishes  important  evidence  of  the 
high  regard  and  even  veneration  in  which  Addison 
was  commonly  held  in  the  colonies,  it  deserves 
quoting. 

Mr.  Bradford^ 

Amongst  the  various  Methods  that  Men  of  fine  Genius 
have  taken  to  convey  their  Sentiments  to  the  World,  none 
have  been  so  deservedly  successful  as  those  Set  of  Papers 
published  in  England  under  the  Title  of  the  Spectator,  and 
no  wonder;  for  good  Sense,  good  Manners,  sprightly  Wit, 
gentile  general  Satyr,  a  strict  adherence  to  Truth,  with  a 


.      WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  125 

Christian  like  Intention  of  propagating  Vertue,  and  root- 
ing out  Vice,  being  their  Foundation,  they  have  and  will 
to  all  Ages  support  themselves  even  against  Calumny  itself. 
Amongst  the  Set  of  Gentlemen  concern 'd  in  those  Papers 
I  think  Mr.  Addison  has  always  had  the  Preference.  I  am 
of  no  Party  of  Men,  but  as  they  act  consistent  with  the 
Good  of  Society.  Envy,  Spleen,  Clamour,  and  Falshood 
can  never  be  introduc  'd  for  the  Benefit  of  any  Community. 
I  am  sorry  of  late  to  have  seen  some  printed  Papers  pub- 
lished in  this  Place,  stuff 'd  with  such  Ribaldry:  I  heartily 
join  with  those  that  have  a  just  Abhorrence  of  Calumny, 
and  beg  leave  to  publish  my  Dislike  of  it  in  the  Words  of 
that  great  and  good  Man,  Mr.  Addison. 
I  am,  Sir, 

Yours,  etc. 

Then  follows  the  well-known  Spectator^  paper  on 
■^'defamatory  Papers  and  Pamphlets,"  reprinted  en- 
tire in  the  Gazette;  and  this  is  only  one  instance 
among  many,  of  the  use  of  the  Spectator  to  rebuke 
the  enemy. 

Meantime  Zenger  had  been  publishing  Cato's  Let- 
ters on  the  absurdity  of  the  Divine  Eight  of  Kings 
and  governors,^  on  the  privilege  of  the  individual  to 
criticise  the  government,^  and  other  kindred  ideals 
of  a  democratic  state.  Hardly  a  number  of  the 
Journal  from  November  to  February  of  the  year 
1733-34  is  without  a  quotation  or  a  letter  reprinted 
in  full  from  the  ''Sentiments  of  (I  had  almost  said, 
the  Divine)  English  Cato."^  In  this  way  were  the 
admirers  of  Gordon  and  Trenchard's  Letters  accus- 

^  Spectator,  No.  451. 

'  Cato's  Letters,  No.  131. 

'  Ibid.,  No.  38. 

*  See  The  New  York  Weekly  Journal,  December  10,  1733. 


126    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

tomed  to  speak  of  them.  ''The  Divine  English 
Cato'^  was  a  common  expression  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  wherever  the  advocacy  of  popular  govern- 
ment was  most  ardent. 

This  would  seldom  be  the  case,  naturally,  among 
the  office-holders  directly  under  the  Governor.  "We 
do  not  find  the  British  Cato  quoted  or  even  referred 
to  in  Bradford's  Gazette.  Bradford  took  the  con- 
servative, aristocratic  point  of  view  in  government 
affairs,  and  Bradford's  paper  is  scathingly  de- 
scribed in  the  Journal  of  December  17,  1733,  as  ''a 
Paper  known  to  be  under  the  Direction  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, in  which  the  Printer  of  it  is  not  suffered  to 
insert  anything  but  what  his  Superiors  approve  of, 
under  the  penalty  of  losing  50L  per  annum  Salary 
and  the  Title  of  the  King's  Printer  for  the  Province 
of  New  York."  No  doubt  this  is  far  from  an  un- 
biased statement  of  the  case.  Bradford  was  prob- 
ably a  genuine  conservative,  and  a  genuine  enough 
supporter  of  Governor  Cosby. 

Zenger  was  reprinting  not  only  Cato's  Letters, 
but  any  other  essays  or  verse  that  would  strengthen 
or  illustrate  his  point  of  view.  Steele's  English- 
man is  twice  pressed  into  the  service,^^  Addison's 
lines  to  Liberty  are  quoted,^^  even  Aesop's  Fable  of 
the  sick  lion  who  invited  guests  in  order  to  eat  them 
at  his  leisure,  is  related  at  length.^  ^     Original  essays 

^"  January  7  and  January  14^  1733-34. 

"  January  28,  1733-34.     Fourteen  lines  beginning 

O  Liberty,  thou  Goddess  heavenly  bright, 

quoted  from  Addison's  Letter  from  Italy  to  the  Bight  Honourable 
Charles  Lord  Halifax,  11.  119-132,  inc. 
1=^  January  14,  1733-34. 


,     WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  127 

during  1733-34  have  the  same  controversial  pur- 
pose. Philo-Patriae  explains  in  no  ambiguous  terms 
the  duties  of  a  ''supream  magistrate. ''^^  The  Jour- 
nal of  December  24,  1733,  has  an  original  essay  on 
the  unfortunate  influences  governing  New  York  and 
New  Jersey.  An  essay  of  January  21,  1733-34,  is 
even  more  explicit  in  denouncing  ''bad  Governors'' 
as  mischievous  beasts. 

Indeed,  Zenger  went  farther.  With  a  grim,  Swift- 
ian  humor,  and  more  than  a  suggestion  of  the  Swift- 
ian  coarseness,  he  published  mock  advertisements 
of  strayed  animals  representing  his  political  foes. 
Doubtless  they  are  no  more  libelous  than  many  car- 
toons of  to-day,  but  in  the  cautious  and  timid  co- 
lonial press  they  form  a  notable  exception.  We 
shall  quote  portions  of  two  of  these  mock  notices. 

Advertisement^* 

"A  large  Spaneil,  of  about  Five  Foot  Five  Inches  High, 
has  lately  stray 'd  from  his  Kennell,  with  his  Mouth  full  of 
fulsom  Panegyricks,  and  in  his  Ramble  dropt  them  in  the 
New  York  Gazette ;  .  .  .  whosoever  will  strip  the  said 
Panegyricks  of  all  their  Fulsomness,  and  send  the  Beast 
back  to  his  Kennell,  shall  have  the  Thanks  of  all  honest 
Men,  and  all  reasonable  Charges." 

Advertisement^^ 

"A  Monkey  of  the  larger  Sort,  about  4  Foot  high,  has 
lately  broke  his  chain  and  run  into  the  country.  .  .  .  Hav- 
ing got  a  Warr  Saddle,  Pistols  and  Sword,  this  whimsical 

^3  November  26,  1733. 

"  See  The  New  York  WeeJcly  Journal,  November  26,  1733. 

"Ibid.,  December  10,  1733. 


128    LITEEAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

Creature  fancied  himself  a  general ;  and  taking  a  Paper  in 
his  Paw  he  muttered  over  it,  what  the  far  greatest  Part 
of  the  Company  understood  not;  but  others  who  thought 
themselves  wiser  pretended  to  understand  him;  .  .  .  but 
a  Man  appearing  without  a  Button  on  his  Hat,  ...  he  fell 
into  a  violent  chattering  again." 

These,  and  such  as  these,  were  the  'Sprinted  Pa- 
pers .  .  .  stuff 'd  with  .  .  .  Ribaldry''  of  which  the 
letter  to  ''Mr.  Bradford''  in  the  Gazette  of  January 
28,  1734,  complained,  and  against  which  the  Specta- 
tor was  quoted.  Even  the  Journal  writers  at  once 
recognized  the  authority  of  Addison,  and  nothing 
could  be  a  more  striking  proof  of  the  universal  ven- 
eration in  which  he  was  held  than  the  quick  response 
in  the  Journal  of  the  following  week.^^  Addison's 
authority  is  not  only  upheld,  but  turned  against 
Bradford,  much  as  Andrew  Bradford  of  Philadel- 
phia had  attempted  to  use  Franklin's  favorite  author 
to  rebuke  Franklin's  Deism.  The  Journal's  answer 
is  in  the  form  of  a  letter  or  reply  ' '  to  the  Author  of 
the  Letter  to  Mr.  Bradford,  in  his  Gazette  of  Jan- 
uary 28th  last. ' '  But  it  is  significant  that  the  reply 
is  sent  to  the  Journal,  not  to  the  Gazette. 

''With  a  great  deal  of  Pleasure  I  have  read  yours,  and 
heartily  joyn  with  you  in  your  Commendation  of  the 
Spectator  and  Mr.  Addison,"  the  Journal  writer  begins, 
with  suave  politeness,  "I  am,  and  resolve  to  remain  what 
you  profess  yourself  to  be,  that  is,  To  he  of  no  Party  of 
Men  hut  as  they  act  consistent  with  the  Good  of  Society; 
.  .  .  but  think  it  odd  that  you  rank  Clamour  in  General, 
whether  just  or  unjust,  along  with  those  low  Vices  (of 
falsehood,  envy,  and  spleen). 

^^  February  4,  1733-34. 


,    WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  129 

''Methinks,  Sir,  before  you  had  joined  Clamour  in  Gen- 
eral, with  such  Company,  you  should  have  shewn  Sir 
Richard  Steel's  Error  in  the  Letter  reprinted  in  Zenger's 
Paper,  No  X.^^  And  should  have  well  weighed,  whether 
the  ranking  of  Just  Clamour  amongst  Vices  be  not  intro- 
ductory of  the  Doctrine  of  passive  Obedience,  and  a 
Sapping  the  Foundation  of  our  late  Glorious  Revolution. 
.  .  .  And  the  rather  for  that  many  Inhabitants  and  Natives 
of  this  Place,  who  (as  I  do)  acknowledge  themselves  to  be 
only  awful  and  distant  admirers  of  Mr.  Addison,  do  cast  in 
their  IMites  in  the  best  manner  they  can  to  the  good  of 
Zenger's  Paper,  as  I'm  informed.  Addison,  Steel,  and  the 
English  Cato  have  been  Men  Almost  Divine ;  we  can  hardly 
Err  if  we  agree  with  them  in  Political  Sentiments;  and 
yet  we  ought  not  to  give  up  our  Reason  to  them  Absolutely, 
because  they  were  I\Ien,  and  as  such  Lyable  to  Errors,  tho 
I  know  not  of  one  Error  in  either  of  them.'' 

He  then  proceeds  to  turn  the  weapons  of  his  oppo- 
nents against  them,  by  reminding  them  that  Addison 
recommended  exemplary  punishments  for  ^^ Authors 
that  have  supported  their  cause  with  Falsehood  and 
Scandal. ''^^  In  brief,  this  writer  for  the  Journal 
used  Addison  as  another  English  Cato,  and,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  referred  to  them  both  as  men  almost 
divine,  and  practically  free  from  error. 

After  hostilities  had  been  declared  in  earnest, 
early  in  1734,  the  use  of  literary  authority  became 
even  more  frequent  on  both  sides.  But  always,  as 
before,  Zenger  drew  his  arguments  and  ideas  largely 
from  Cato's  Letters,  while  Bradford  repeatedly  re- 

"  January  7,  1733-34.     Steele  had  asserted  the  right  of  rebellion 
on  just  cause. 
^^  Spectator,  No.  451. 

10 


130    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

turned  to  Addison's  papers  on  scandal  and  lying. 
At  times  the  heat  of  the  conflict  warmed  Bradford 
and  his  correspondents  into  something  like  wit,  as 
when  a  letter  to  ^'Mr.  Bradford  ^'^^  advocates  the 
enrichment  of  the  *^ somewhat  blunt  British  tongue'' 
by  a  new  word  for  liar, — namely  Zenger.  If  those 
who  use  this  word  frequently  wish  a  little  variety, 
they  have  only  to  say,  ' '  Oh  that  is  in  my  Lady  Blue- 
mantle 's  Memoirs."  Lest  the  readers  of  the  Ga- 
zette should  not  understand  the  allusion,  the  letter 
explains :  ^  ^  For  the  reason  of  that  Expression,  please 
to  read  the  427  /S^ec^a^or^Vol.  VI,  which  should  have 
been  inserted  here,  but  not  having  room,  it  will  be- 
gin our  next  Gazette,  to  which  we  refer. ' '  And  ' '  our 
next  Gazette' '^^  has,  according  to  the  announcement, 
the  four  hundred  and  twenty- seventh  Spectator ^  re- 
printed in  full. 

Ordinarily,  however,  we  find  no  sallies  of  original 
wit  in  the  Gazette,  although  there  is  plenty  of  invec- 
tive. Spectators  are  usually  introduced  in  a  brief 
sentence  or  two,  such  as,  ''You  are  desired  by  a 
Friend  of  one  of  your  Correspondents,  to  Print  in 
your  next  Gazette,  one  of  Mr.  Addison's  Spectators, 
as  the  properest  Answer  to  Zenger 's  preceding 
Journal/'^^  This  leads  to  the  four  hundred  and 
fifty-fifth  Spectator,  which  is  a  plea  for  not  answer- 
ing your  opponents!  Or  we  find  in  a  note  to  the 
editor  of  the  Gazette,^^  ''I  received  Mr.  Zenger 's 
Paper  Nom.  139,  which  I  find  so  gross  Ungentleman 

"  See  The  New  YorJc  Gazette,  No.  435,  February  25,  1733-34. 
^  Ibid.,  No.  436,  March  4,  1733-34. 
=*Ibid.,  No.  441,  April  8,  1734. 
'2  Ibid.,  No.  558,  July  18,  1736. 


,     WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  131 

like  and  false,  that  I  think  no  better  Answer  can  be 
made,  than  one  of  Mr.  Steel's  Lecubrations,  Specta- 
tor Numb.  451.''  Sometimes  a  number  of  the  Spec- 
tator is  reprinted  with  no  introductory  word  at 
all.  In  this  way  Spectator  No.  594  appears  in  the 
Gazette  of  February  18,  1733-34.  Even  in  citing 
other  authors,  Bradford  and  his  friends  liked  to 
have  the  authority  of  Addison.  '^I  am  the  more 
free  to  introduce  the  Authority  of  Clarendon,"  says 
one  of  Bradford's  correspondents  in  the  Gazette  of 
February  11,  1733-34,  ^'because  it  is  following  the 
Example  of  our  favourite  Mr.  Addison,  see  the  439 
Spectator,  Vol.  6." 

The  article  in  Zenger's  paper  which  Bradford's 
friends  had  found  ^'so  gross  Ungentleman  like  and 
false"  was  a  bitter  attack  on  the  administration  of 
Governor  Cosby  combined  with  personal  criticism 
of  Bradford,  the  Governor's  adherent.  In  answer 
to  the  publication  of  ^^Mr.  Steel's  Lecubration"  in 
the  Gazette  of  July  18,  1736,  Zenger  again  turns  the 
Spectator  against  his  enemies.^^  He  readily  admits, 
that  "Defamation  ...  is  a  most  base  and  horrid 
Crime,"  and  more  than  hints  that  Bradford  has  been 
guilty  of  it.  ''But  can  relating  the  Truth  be  Defa- 
mation? ...  I  shall  conclude  this  Paper  with  rec- 
ommending to  the  few  Approvers  of  the  Conduct  of 
Mr.  Cosby  and  his  Tools,  the  reading  the  Spectator, 
published  by  Mr.  Bradford,  and  more  particularly 
these  Words  of  it.  'It  is  an  uncontested  Maxim, 
that  they  who  approve  an  Action  would  certainly 
do  it,  if  they  could.  .  .  .  Ther's  no  Difference,  says. 

=*  See  The  New  York  Weekly  Journal,  No.  142,  July  26,  1736. 


132    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

Cicero,  between  advising  a  Crime,  and  approving  it 
when  committed.  ^ ' ' 

Now  and  then  Zenger  quotes  Addison  without  any 
previous  suggestion  from  Bradford,^^  and  one  dar- 
ing attack  on  Bradford,^^  calling  him  a  liar  in  no 
measured  terms,  is  actually  signed  ^^ Addison,"  and 
prefaced  by  a  quotation  from  Paradise  Lost!  It 
will  be  observed,  however,  that  both  parties  used  the 
Spectator  for  controversial  purposes,  during  the 
very  years  in  which  many  other  colonial  papers  were 
using  it  for  the  culture,  or  at  least  for  the  moral  im- 
provement of  their  readers.  Instances  of  this  lat- 
ter use  of  Addison  and  Steele  can  be  found  both  in 
The  Netv  York  Gazette  and  in  The  New  York 
Weekly  Journal;  but  such  instances  are,  compara- 
tively speaking,  rare.^^ 

In  fact  the  writers  for  both  papers  seized  upon 
any  literature  that  they  could  find  to  illustrate  their 
political  and  personal  opinions.  One  correspondent 
of  the  Journal,  signing  himself  N.  S.,  of  '^Hamstead, 
on  Long-Island,'^  not  only  uses  A  Tale  of  a  Tub 
in  an  amusing  way,  but  gives  important,  though  inci- 
dental testimony,  as  to  the  books  likely  to  be  in  the 
library  of  a  New  York  gentleman  in  1734.  N.  S. 
begins^^  by  informing  Zenger  that  he  hears  much 
against  the  Journal.  ^'It  is  libeling,  it  is  damn'd 
Nonsense, ''  and  so  on,  and  even  he  seems  to  place 
himself  in  the  ranks  of  its  enemies,  until  he  goes  on 

2*  See  The  New  YorTc  Weekly  Journal,  No.  86,  June  20,  1735. 
^'  Ibid.,  No.  81,  May  26,  1735. 

"  For  examples,  see  The  Neiv  YorJc  WeeMy  Journal,  Nos.  80,  81, 
82,  230,  231,  and  The  New  YorTc  Gazette,  Nos.  480,  481. 

"  See  The  New  YorJc  WeeMy  Journal,  No.  18,  March  4,  1733-34. 


,     WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  133 

to  explain,  by  a  rather  indirect  method,  what  he 
really  means.  His  testimony  is  important  enough 
to  deserve  quoting. 

"My  library  is  not  large,"  he  writes,  '4t  consists  of  a 
Bible,  Pool's  Aiinotations,  Calamy's  Sermons,  Dr.  Clarke's 
and  Locke's  Works,  Hugo  Grotius,  The  Tale  of  a  Tub,  De 
Foe's  Jure  Divino,  Jacob's  Law  Dictionary,  Pryn's  Anim- 
adversions, The  Compleat  Justice,  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  2  Prayer  Books,  a  Psalter,  and  one  Primer. 
When  I  resolved  to  become  an  Author,  I  repaired  to  my 
Library,  and  the  first  Book  I  took  up  was  The  Tale  of  a 
Tub,  and  beginning  at  the  Title  Page,  I  there  saw  the 
Picture  of  a  Vessel  at  Sea  tossing,  and  a  Whale  alongside, 
the  People  on  Board  in  great  consternation,  throwing  Tubs 
overboard,  to  divert  the  Whale,  fearing  he  might  Swallow 
them  up ;  I  immediately  thought  that  Picture  a  just 
Emblem,  of  your  Writers,  and  those  of  the  Gazette;  the 
whale  I  took  to  be  the  Journal  Writers,  and  the  Ship  the 
Gazetteers,  and  what  I  think  justifies  my  Thought,  is  some 
of  your  late  Performances:  they  clap  some  incoherent 
Piece,  or  other,  into  the  Gazette,  by  way  of  Tub,  and  your 
Writers  like  the  Whale  catch  at  it,  all  which  I  think  makes 
them  highly  blameable ;  for  they  might  easily  see  the  Tubs 
thrown  for  them,  are  purely  Baits;  now  if  they  intend  to 
gain  their  Points,  that  is,  inculcate  the  Principles  of  Liberty 
so  strongly,  that  none  but  those  who  are  born  blind  can 
help  seeing  of  them :  mind  not  the  Tubs  and  they  will  cease 
to  throw  them  when  they  find  you  don't." 

"Thus,  Zenger,  you  may  see  what  I  intend. 
Is  still  to  keep  you  to  the  Point  in  Hand, 
Keep  close  to  that,  in  spight  of  all  the  Tubs 
And  then  you'll  meet  with  praise  instead  of  Rubs." 

The  Ga.se^^e  writers  quickly  tried  to  turn  the  tables 


134    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

on  the  Hempstead  wit,  by  accepting  his  allegory, 
only  making  the  tossing  vessel  a  noble  Ship  of  State, 
and  the  Wliale  a  public  enemy,  ready  to  devour  the 
Gazette y  and  ^' enjoy  the  Liberty  of  the  Press'' 
alone.2^  ^'Then  the  Journalists  are  to  meet  with 
Eubs  instead  of  Praise ;  for  the  People  of  this  Prov- 
ince are  not  to  be  deluded  with  a  Tale  of  a  Tub.'' 
As  if  to  show  how  little  the  Gazette  was  to  be  de- 
luded by  such  a  tale,  one  of  Bradford's  staff  has  a 
long  letter  in  the  Gazette  of  the  following  week^^  on 
false  ambition  and  private  designs,  concluding  with 
a  bold  comparison  of  Zenger's  Journal  to  "Old 
Thersites,  so  aptly  described  in  Pope's  Homer." 
These  lines  of  Pope  seemed  to  the  Gazette  writer  a 
very  accurate  description  of  Zenger: 

Thersites  only  clamour 'd,  in  the  throng, 
Loquacious,  loud,  and  turbulent  of  tongue, 
And  by  no  shame,  by  no  respect  controul'd, 
In  scandal  busy,  in  reproaches  bold ; 
But  chief,  he  glory 'd  with  licentious  style, 
To  lash  the  Great,  and  Rulers  to  revile.^^ 

Original  couplets  in  Pope's  manner  were  the 
chosen  vehicle  of  polite,  formal  compliment  through- 
out the  colonies,  while  the  native  satiric  verse  more 
often  followed  Butler's  Hudihras.  Verses  On  the 
Marriage  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  tvith  the  Princess 
Royal,  for  example,  which  we  find  in  the  Gazette  of 
June  24,  1734,  along  with  the  announcement  that 
they  are  "The  Product  of  an  American  Genius," — 

*See  The  New  YorJc  Gazette,  No.  437,  March  11,  1733-34,  and 
Supplement. 
==«  Ibid.,  March  18,  1733-34. 
'^  Pope's  Iliad,  Bk.  II,  11.  255-263. 


'      WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  135 

such  verses  consist  of  the  usual  florid  addresses  to 
liberty,  ^'to  the  Enlivening  Sun  benign,'^  and  so  on. 
The  Popean  couplets  in  the  Journal,^^  too,  On  Colo- 
nel Morrises  going  for  England,  though  somewhat 
simpler,  and  certainly  more  genuine^-  in  tone,  be- 
long to  the  same  order  of  laudatory  verse. 

Guard  him,  ye  Gods,  safe  to  the  British  Isle 
Grant  his  just  Cause  may  gain  a  Royal  Smile 
May  he  succeed  in  what  he's  gone  to  doe, 
And  save  his  Country  from  Approaching  Woe. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  a  certain  Gazette  corre- 
spondent, Z.  D.,  wishes  to  pour  contempt  and  ridi- 
cule upon  the  JournaVs  verses  to  its  hero,  he  chooses 
Hudihras  for  his  model,  and  even  prefaces  his  own 
attempt  in  verse  with  a  few  lines  from  Hudibras.^^ 
Some  of  his  introductory  remarks  in  prose  are  not 
without  force  and  point. 

"As  I  can  read,"  he  begins,  "I  sometimes  amuse  myself 
with  the  Gazette  and  Journals;  and  find  in  some  of  the 
latter,  that  the  Bemus'd  Tribe  have  been  very  busie  in 
praising,  praying  and  Desiring  the  Protection  of  the  Gods, 
for  a  certain  Patriot  or  Heroe  of  their  own  making ;  I  ques- 
tion his  right  to  either  of  the  Titles,  but  shall  wave  it,  to 
take  a  little  Notice  of  those  so  highly  Celebrated  Perform- 
ances. And  first,  I  find  one  of  them  is  for  Imploring  the 
Protection  of  Neptune,  and  all  the  other  Gods,  on  this 
Glorious  Expedition;  while  the  Second  enforces  and  prays 
particularly  to  Apollo,   to   inspire  his   otherwise   Empty 

^^No.  61,  January  6,  1734-35. 

^  Two  poems  on  Colonel  Morris 's  departure  appear  in  this  number 
of  the  Journal,  the  second  poem  being  sent  by  J.  S.  from  Cape-May 
in  New  Jersey,  as  ' '  the  Performance  of  a  rural  muse. ' ' 

»» See  The  New  TorJc  Gazette,  No.  487,  February  25,  1734-35. 


136    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

Noddle  with  fine  things  in  praise  of  his  Heroe,  and  the 
grand  Undertaking  ...  I  wonder  they  had  not  given  him 
Arion's  Harp,  and  instructed  him  what  tune  to  play  on 
it,  in  order  to  bring  those  Morris-Dancers  about  him." 

Then  passing  to  the  subject  of  his  own  verses, 
Z.  D.  offers  the  following  brief  and  sententious  apol- 
ogy for  them.  '''Tis  possible  they  (the  Journal 
poets)  may  Laugh  at  them,  but  I'm  even  with  them, 
in  that,  beforehand, — being  assured,  they  cannot  de- 
spise my  doggrel  more  than  I  do  their  high  Heroick 
Fustian.  Perhaps  they  may  call  it  a  Tubb,  and 
they  are  very  welcome.  Tubs  being  very  proper  to 
amuse  and  divert  the  Eage  of  their  Insatiable  Levia- 
than, which  has  so  long  been  endeavouring  to  swal- 
low up  both  Government  and  Law.'' 

His  ^'doggrel"  is  somewhat  above  the  average 
of  the  verse  in  Northern  colonial  newspapers  of  our 
period.  A  few  lines  will  furnish  sufficient  evidence 
of  its  quality. 

Great  Jove  himself,  must  summon 'd  be, 
And  Neptune,  sent  in  haste  to  Sea, 
And  ev'ry  god  in  proper  Station, 
Assist  them  in  Poetick  Fashion, 
Brave  Patriots  those !  of  Eight  and  Laws, 
And  Guardian  Angels  of  the  Cause ; 


But  know,  ye  Paltry  Pedling  Tools, 
Ye  praying,  Rhiming,  Factious  Fools, 
Know,  if  hereafter  you  again 
Take  Don  Apollo's  Name  in  vain, 
To  patronize  such  spurious  Trash, 
The  Furies  have  prepar'd  a  Lash, 


The  Scourge  of  Paltry  Poetasting. 


WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  137 

The  only  effect  of  all  this  on  the  Journal  scribblers 
was  to  elicit  an  ironical  appreciation  of  Z.D/s  poetic 
gifts. ^-^  ^^That  Author  is  intirely  wrong,  in  my 
humble  Opinion/'  writes  a  Journal  correspondent, 
*^to  bury  that  fine  Genius  of  his  in  this  wooden  Coun- 
try; what  an  exalted  Figure  he  would  make  in  any 
Part  of  Europe!  How  much  would  he  be  admired 
by  the  Connoisseurs  in  Poetry!" 

Nowhere  in  the  colonies  was  the  battle  over  the 
principles  of  representative  government  fought 
more  fiercely  at  this  period  than  in  these  New  York 
papers.  And  although  personal  comments  were 
made  with  peculiar  freedom  on  both  sides,  yet  the 
two  opposing  theories  in  regard  to  the  responsibility 
of  the  ruling  power  to  the  people  were  developed  in 
a  long  series  of  abstract  discussions  as  well.  Zenger 
based  his  ideas  of  liberty  of  the  press,  of  govern- 
ment by  the  consent  of  the  governed,  of  the  privi- 
lege of  juries,  on  Cato^s  Letters,  while  Bradford 
answered  with  arguments  reinforced  by  Collier's 
Moral  Essays,  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  and 
the  Earl  of  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion. 
These  arguments  would  seem  odd  to  modern  read- 
ers, since  even  conservative  political  opinion  to-day 
would  hardly  accord  with  Bradford's  point  of  view. 
To  Bradford,  indeed,  and  his  correspondents,  the 
idea  that  governors  are  only  the  executors  and  ser- 
vants of  the  people's  will  was  very  dangerous — just 
a  shallow  appeal  to  popular  ignorance. 

As  it  happened,  Zenger  himself  first  suggested 
the    authority    of    Clarendon    to    Bradford,    by    a 

**  See  The  New  TorJc  WeeJcly  Jmrnal,  No.  69,  March  3,  1735. 


138    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

letter  in  the  Journal^^  on  the  undeserved  suffer- 
ings of  *^Mr.  Pryn,  Dr.  Bastwick  and  Mr.  Burton  in 
the  Court  of  Star-Chamber'^  for  the  Puritan  cause. 
Clearly  their  freedom  of  speech  interested  Zenger. 
But  the  Gazette  writers  immediately^^  challenged  his 
heroes,  and  accused  Zenger  of  fabricating  history. 
*  *  These  three  honest  Gentlemen 's  Behaviour, ' '  writes 
a  correspondent  of  Bradford,  ''he  would  recommend 
to  his  Eeaders  for  a  Pattern  of  Innocence  and  Cour- 
age. God  forbid !  If  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  who  is 
remarkable  for  his  fine  and  impartial  Character, 
may  gain  belief. '^  He  then  quotes  long  passages 
from  Clarendon's  account  of  the  three  Puritan  lead- 
ers. Zenger,  not  to  be  daunted  by  the  awe-inspiring 
name  of  Clarendon,  retorted  with  Oldmixon's 
charges  against  Atterbury  and  Smalridge,  which 
virtually  made  them  the  authors  of  the  passages  in 
question.  Again,  the  Gazette  carried  on  the  contest 
by  insisting^'^  that  there  had  been  no  interpolations 
in  the  history,  and  by  reprinting  a  large  portion  of 
Atterbury 's  defence  of  himself. 

Zenger 's  open  defiance  of  the  Governor  resulted 
in  his  arrest  for  libel  on  the  seventeenth  of  Novem- 
ber, 1734.  He  was  brought  before  the  Justice  on  the 
twentieth,  and  committed  to  prison  without  bail  to 
await  his  trial.  The  Journal  continued  uninter- 
rupted, however,  by  these  events,  only  taking  a  little 
more  prudent  course,  in  the  expression  of  its  ideas 
through  well-known  English  essays,  rather  than 
through  original  discussions.    We  find  a  long  series 

»No.  14,  February  4,  1733-34. 

»« See  The  New  YorTc  Gazette,  No.  433,  February  11,  1733-34. 

"  See  Nos.  436  and  440,  March  4,  1733-34,  and  April  1,  1734. 


»      WAR    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  139 

of  reprints  from  Cato^s  Letters  in  the  spring  and 
summer  of  1735.  Several  times  the  fear  of  incurring 
the  '^  Pains  and  Penalties  of  Lybeling"  is  sarcas- 
tically advanced  as  the  reason  for  using  an  essay 
known  to  be  *' printed  in  England.  "^^  The  trial 
took  place  early  in  August,  1735.  The  famous  law- 
yer, Andrew  Hamilton,  from  Philadelphia,  defended 
Zenger,  and  the  printer  was  acquitted.  The  Journal 
of  August  18  gives  an  enthusiastic  account  of  the 
*Hhree  Hurras  of  many  Hundreds  of  People  in  the 
presence  of  the  Court''  at  the  verdict  of  Not  Guilty. 
^' About  Forty  of  the  Citizens  entertained  Mr.  Ham- 
ilton at  the  Black  Horse  that  day  at  Dinner,"  we  are 
told  in  the  same  issue  of  the  Journal,  ''and  at  his 
Departure  ...  he  was  saluted  with  the  great  Guns 
of  several  Ships." 

The  evidence  for  and  against  Zenger  has  been  ably 
and  fully  discussed  in  a  recent  volume  by  Mr.  Liv- 
ingston Eutherford.^^  The  case  of  this  bold  Xew 
York  printer  was  soon  known  in  England,  and  used 
as  a  text  for  essays  urging  the  liberty  of  the  press 
in  the  Craftsman  and  Common  Sense^^  The  book 
registries  of  both  The  Gentleynan's  Magazine  and 
The  London  Magazine  for  January,  1738,  include 
The  Tryal  of  John  Peter  Zenger,  of  New   York, 

^See  The  New  YorJc  Weelcly  Journal,  No.  61,  January  6,  1734-35, 
No.  84,  June  16,  1735,  and  No.  85,  June  23,  1735. 

^^  John  Peter  Zenger,  His  Press,  His  Trial,  and  A  Bihliography  of 
Zenger  Imprints,  together  icith  a  Eeprint  of  the  First  Edition  of  the 
Trial.     By  Livingston  Rutherford. 

*•  Common  Sense,  No.  49,  January  7,  1738,  has  an  essay  on  The  great 
Importance  of  the  Liberty  of  the  Press,  and  the  Craftsman,  No.  602, 
January  21,  1738,  in  a  similar  essay,  reprints  extracts  from  Mr. 
Hamilton's  Speeches  at  the  Trial  of  John  Peter  Zenger. 


140    LITEKAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

Printer,  as  well  as  Remarhs  on  the  Tryal  of  John 
Peter  Zenger.  But  although  the  importance  of 
Zenger^s  case  in  the  development  of  American  polit- 
ical opinion  could  hardly  be  overestimated,  the  facts 
of  his  trial  have  only  an  indirect  bearing  on  the 
present  investigation.  They  help  to  explain  a  cer- 
tain change  in  the  literary  aspect  of  the  Journal 
after  1735. 

Naturally,  when  Zenger 's  vindication  was  com- 
plete, when,  after  a  time,  he  became  the  official 
printer  for  New  Jersey,  and  a  man  of  established 
reputation,  his  paper  ceased  to  be  an  organ  of  violent 
political  controversy.  Not  that  hostilities  ever 
ceased  between  the  Journal  and  the  Gazette.  But 
the  combatants  slowly  learned  to  content  themselves 
with  the  firing  of  an  occasional  gun.  Bradford  went 
to  sleep  between  the  shots.  Zenger  developed  his 
paper  along  a  number  of  new  lines. 

First  of  all  there  is  a  distinct  attempt  to  present 
public  affairs  in  a  coherent,  organized  way.  Out  of 
the  mass  of  news  items,  a  system  begins  to  ap- 
pear in  the  Journal.  Even  when  there  is  no  foreign 
news,  we  find  something  of  real  importance  to  the 
city,  like  the  publication  of  the  charter  or  the  city 
laws.  '  ^  As  the  Time  affords  but  little  News, ' '  writes 
Zenger  in  the  Journal  of  February  20, 1737-38,  ''and 
the  City  Laws  seem  to  be  in  but  few  Hands,  I  thought 
it  might  not  be  amiss  to  publish  them  in  the 
Journal.^^ 

Earely  in  a  colonial  paper  before  1740,  can  foreign 
affairs  be  followed  so  intelligently  as  in  The  Neio 
York  Weekly  Journal.     Zenger  seems  to  have  se- 


,     WAK    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOUKNAL  141 

lected  from  the  English  magazines  and  papers  just 
the  group  of  situations  and  events  which  would  most 
vitally  affect  colonial  interests.  For  instance,  the 
strained  relations  between  England  and  Spain  lead- 
ing to  Admiral  Vernon's  capture  of  Carthagena  and 
Porto  Bello  meant  more  to  British  America  than  to 
England,  and  the  desire  to  reinforce  Admiral 
Vernon,  for  the  purpose  of  finally  wiping  Spanish 
America  otf  the  map,  was  very  strong  in  the  colo- 
nies. Hence  the  convention  between  Great  Britain 
and  Spain,  concluded  in  January,  1739,  gave  no 
satisfaction  to  the  colonists,  eager  for  the  fray,  and 
confident  of  complete  victory.  Zenger  not  only  se- 
lected the  clearest  articles  from  the  English  maga- 
zines on  the  '' present  State  of  Affairs  between  Us 
and  Spain,  "^^  but  he  published  the  convention, 
article  by  article,  in  two  successive  numbers  of  the 
Joiirnal^^  Bits  of  verse  complimenting  Vernon, 
criticisms  of  the  English  government's  policy,  are 
taken  from  English  sources  in  a  sequence  logical 
enough  to  give  a  vivid  and  thorough  account  of 
Anglo-Spanish  affairs.  Essays  on  allied  subjects  of 
general  interest  to  Americans,  like  the  excellent  de- 
scription of  the  Musquito  Indians  in  the  Craftsman 
of  November  11,  1738,  also  appeared  in  the  Journal. 
When  dialogues  between  John  Tar  and  Thomas 
Lobster  on  the  victory  at  Porto  Bello-^^  crept  in,  we 
already  have  the  beginnings  of  the  literary  influence 

"  See  The  New  Yoric  TVeeTcly  Journal,  Xo.  273,  March  5,  1738-39, 
which  contains  an  article  of  this  sort  from  The  London  Magazine  of 
November,  1738. 

«Nos,  283  and  284,  May  15,  1739,  and  May  21,  1739. 

"See  The  Craftsman,  March  21,  1740. 


142    LITEEAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

of  the  English  periodicals.  The  most  important  re- 
prints from  the  English  periodicals  of  this  period, 
in  the  Journal,  are  those  of  two  entire  numbers  of 
Fielding's  Champion,  The  reason  for  the  first  of 
these  reprints  is  obvious,  since  a  large  part  of  the 
Champion  of  June  24, 1740,  is  devoted  to  the  exploits 
of  '^the  brave  Admiral  Vernon.''  The  second  re- 
print from  the  Champion,  however,  is  purely  liter- 
ary and  illustrates  the  ease  with  which  a  newspaper 
of  1740  could  pass  from  the  literary  treatment  of 
current  events,  to  literature  itself. 

The  Champion  was  ostensibly  published  by  Her- 
cules Vinegar  and  his  family.  Through  Hercules, 
Mrs.  Joan,  or  Jack  Vinegar,  as  mouthpieces.  Field- 
ing could  give  utterance  to  satire  or  nonsense,  as  he 
chose.  The  first  Champion  reprinted  by  the  Journal 
has  plenty  of  nonsense,  combined  with  a  warm  de- 
fence of  Admiral  Vernon.  In  fact,  the  whole  paper 
rings  with  the  words  patriot,  liberty,  courage,, 
Zenger's  own  favorite  words.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Vinegar  family,  ''on  all  Matters  which  properly 
belong  to  the  Office  of  Censor  of  Great  Britain,"  a 
petition  to  naturalize  the  Dutch  word  Skellum  has 
been  introduced.  Skellum  means  everything  that  is 
bad;  and  ''to  utter  one  Syllable  in  Favour  of  them 
(evil-doers)  shall  henceforth  be  reputed  Skellumy.'^ 
In  the  list  of  skellums  that  follows,  the  item  which 
undoubtedly  helped  to  bring  the  Champion  to  New 
York  is  this:  "Resolv'd,  That  any  Person  or  Persons 
who  attempt  to  whisper  a  Syllable  against  the  brave 
Admiral  Vernon,  or  to  ridicule  or  lessen  the  Repu- 
tation of  his  late  Success  in  America,  is  a  Skellum,, 
and  shall  so  be  reputed  forever." 


WAB    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  143 

Moreover,  this  very  number  of  the  Champion  ends 
with  a  song  to  Admiral  Vernon,  sent  by  ''Brit- 
tanicus."  Fielding's  genius  certainly  did  not  lie  in 
song,  and  this  particular  tribute  to  the  Admiral 
ranks  very  little  above  the  ordinary  "poetical  essay '* 
in  The  London  Magazine  or  The  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine. "Brittanicus"  merely  scores  the  government 
roundly  for  not  reinforcing  the  gallant  officer, 

Whose  Virtue  and  Courage 

If  rightly  sustain 'd, 
Had  retriev'd  our  lost  Fame, 

And  new  Trophies  had  gain'd; 
Ov'r  the  whole  Spanish  Coast 

Britain's  Thunder  had  hurl'd, 
And,  like  Neptune,  gave  Laws 

To  Columbo's  new  World. 
This  let  fam'd  Porto  Bello, 

And  Chagre  declare! 
Those  Earnests  of  Vengeance ! 

Those  first  Fruits  of  War ! 
Which,  with  six  Ships  now  only. 

He  lay'd  in  the  Dust, 


And  what  Britain  laments. 
Is  the  Laughter  of  Spain. 

These  sentiments  were  sure  to  be  heartily  echoed  in 
the  colonies. 

The  next  number  of  the  Champion  which  Zenger 
reprinted^*  consists  of  a  dialogue  between  Harlequin 
and  Punch,  with  the  occasional  excited  entrance  of 
their  servant.  Scaramouch,  who  brings  terrifying 
messages  from  their  creditors.     This  dialogue  has 

*^  See  The  New  YorTc  WeeJcly  Journal,  No.  368,  December  22,  1740. 


144    LITEKAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

nothing  to  do  with  political  affairs,  and  is  therefore, 
introduced  into  the  Journal  merely  for  its  own  sake. 
Harlequin  and  Punch  represent  swindlers  in  high 
places,  who  have  used  the  law  for  their  own  pur- 
poses. Evidently  Zenger  thought  that  the  satire 
would  be  appreciated  by  his  New  York  readers. 

Thus  by  degrees  Zenger  began  to  draw  from  the 
English  periodicals,  as  Franklin  and  Andrew  Brad- 
ford had  drawn  from  them  even  earlier.  By  using 
both  the  literary  and  the  news  sections  of  the  maga- 
zines, the  colonial  editor  could  often  provide  him- 
self with  material  for  several  weeks  in  succession. 
Zenger  learned  to  avail  himself  liberally  of  this  op- 
portunity, and  even  William  Bradford  used  it  to 
some  extent  in  the  Gazette, 

The  selections  in  the  Journal  are  more  literary, 
however,  as  well  as  more  numerous  than  those  in 
the  Gazette.  Letters  from  The  Gruhstreet  Jouf^nal 
on  extravagant  finery,^^  several  excellent  numbers 
of  The  Spy  describing  Sunday  afternoon  tea-table 
gossip  in  London,  and  fashionable  London  life  in 
general,^^  essays  from  The  Gentleman's  Magazine 
on  The  Vanity  of  affecting  to  be  tho't  younger  than 
we  are,^^  or  The  Desire  of  Matrimony  in  Old  Women 
rehuked"^^  all  found  their  way  into  The  New  York 
Weekly  Journal.  From  The  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
too,  came  that  series  of  papers  in  defence  of  Gulli- 
ver's Travels,  which  have  an  important  connection 

«  See  The  New  YorTc  WeeTcly  Journal,  No.  172,  February  2&,  1736-37. 
"Ibid.,  Nos.  173,  174,  and  175,  March  7,  March  14,  and  March  21, 
1736-37. 

"  Ibid.,  No.  270,  February  12,  1738-39. 
*«Ibid.,  No.  266,  January  15,  1738-39. 


WAK    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  145 

with  Samuel  Johnson's  Debates  in  Lilliputia.  Truth 
asserted,  or  a  Demonstration  that  the  Relations  in 
Mr,  Gulliver's  Voyages  are  no  Fictions  is  the  title  of 
the  first  essay  in  the  series.^'-^  The  Debates  in  Lilli- 
putia began  in  June,  1738,  and  no  doubt  led  to  the 
defence  of  Gulliver's  Travels  in  Truth  Asserted. 
In  any  case,  there  is  a  possibility  that  if  Zenger 
thought  the  defence  of  Gulliver's  voyages  worthy  of 
reprinting,  he  may  also  have  reprinted  some  of  the 
Lilliputian  debates  in  the  numbers  of  his  Journalnot 
now  extant. ^*^  Unfortunately  we  have  no  proof  of 
such  a  connection  with  Samuel  Johnson. 

Original  essays  of  a  purely  literary  character  are 
not  numerous  in  the  Journal;  and  yet  the  editorial 
statf  felt  the  influence  of  the  current  English  peri- 
odical to  some  extent.  A  long  letter  in  the  Crafts- 
man^^ from  Aminadab  to  Friend  Caleb,  'Hhe  Man 
called  the  Craftsman, "probably  suggested  the  letter 
from  Caleb  Tenderheart  to  his  friend,  Nahab  Din, 
in  The  Neiv  York  Weekly  Journal.^'^  Caleb  Tender- 
heart  writes  a  solemn  diatribe  on  the  vanity,  pride, 
and  ignorance  of  a  certain  young  miss,  his  cousin. 
After  the  letter,  we  have  Nahab  Din's  comments. 
^^I  am  very  apt  to  think  all  that  is  therein  contain 'd 
is  nothing  but  Truth,  since  I  myself  have  often  ob- 
served that  the  young  Maidens  of  York  and  Flushing 
have  not  half  the  good  Qualities  they  were  bless 'd 
with  in  the  years  1710  and  1711." 

"See  The  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  February,   1739. 

''"The  files  of   The  New   York   Weelcly  Journal  in  the  New  York 
Public  Library  are  somewhat  broken. 

"No.   736^   August   9,   1740.     It   was   copied   into   The  New    York 
Weekly  Journal^  No.  362,  November  10,  1740. 

"^^No.  279,  April  16,  1739. 
11 


146    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN  COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

Another  attempt  at  writing  the  kind  of  sprightly 
essay  common  in  the  later  English  periodicals,  and 
applying  it  to  local  conditions  in  New  York  and  New 
Jersey,  may  be  found  in  the  letter  from  Peaceable^^ 
on  the  ^'Spunger  or  Hanger-on/'  Peaceable  com- 
plains that  this  unpleasing  individual  may  be  found 
*4n  every  Corner  of  New  Jersey.  .  .  .  The  Town 
swarms  with  this  sort  of  gentry;  and  a  Man  of 
Fortune  cannot  set  his  Foot  into  it,  from  his  Voyage 
or  Travels,  but  there  are  several  of  them  come  in- 
stantly humming  and  buzzing  about  him.''  Peace- 
able does  not  trouble  himself  much  about  syntax,  but 
nevertheless  he  shows  some  ability  to  describe  char- 
acter, and  point  out  the  follies  of  his  day.  Original 
essays  in  the  Journal  are  fairly  well  exemplified  in 
these  remarks  of  Nahab  Din  and  Peaceable. 

Zenger's  taste  in  poetry  was  not  of  the  highest 
order,  as  may  be  imagined,  though  it  was  certainly 
above  reproach  on  the  moral  side.  The  Eeverend 
John  Pomfret's  Pindaric  Essay  on  A  Prospect  of 
Death  occupies  the  front  page  in  two  successive 
numbers  of  the  Journal.^^  It  is  introduced  as  a 
pleasant  entertainment  in  a  letter  to  ^^Mr.  Zenger," 
which  is  worth  quoting  as  evidence  of  the  welcome 
afforded  to  any  sort  of  literature  by  the  colonial 
editor. 

Mr.  Zenger, 

As  the  Season  of  the  Year  can  afford  you  but  little  News, 
I  thought  that  the  following  Lines  of  Mr.  Pomfret  would 
be  no  disagreeable  Entertainment  to  your  Readers;  there- 

•'See  The  New  YorTc  WeeTcly  Journal,  No.  388,  May  11,  1741. 
"Nos.  164  and  165,  December  27,  1736,  and  January  10,  1736-37. 


.      WAE    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  147 

fore  I  desire  you  to  insert  them,  and  you'll  oblige  one  of 
your  constant  Readers, 

Mort.  Spect.  sub. 

Extempore  Verses,  by  Stephen  Duck,  on  the  Ad- 
mission of  his  Son  into  Eton  College,  also  adorn  the 
pages  of  the  Journal.^^  There  are  some  original 
couplets,  sent  by  Eachel  Salem,  on  Chloe's  absence, 
written  by  ^*a  young  gentleman,  on  the  Departure 
of  a  deserving  Young  Lady  from  this  City,"^^  as 
well  as  a  number  of  uninspired  elegies.  On  the 
whole,  there  was  little  interest  in  poetry. 

The  moral  tale,  the  moral  dialogue,  and  the  fable, 
on  the  other  hand,  never  waned  in  popularity. 
Aesop's  Fables  are  among  the  few  secular  books 
mentioned  in  the  printers'  advertisements,  and  in 
the  Journal  of  December  13,  1736,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  the  editor : 

Mr.  Zenger, 

In  order  to  divert  that  Dulness  under  which  you  seem 
to  labour,  .  .  .  insert  the   following   Fable.     It   is   taken 
from  a  collection  of  Sir  L 'Estrange. 
Yours,  etc. 

The  moral  dialogues  of  ''the  late  ingenious  Mrs. 
Eowe"  against  quadrille  and  ridicule  are  reprinted 
in  full  by  Zenger,^'  with  a  flattering  introduction, 
describing  them  as  ''entertaining  to  All,  and,  I  hope, 
profitable  to  Some  of  your  Eeaders.'' 

The  book  advertisements  of  both  Bradford  and 

'°  No.  263,  December  25,  1738. 

"  See  The  New  YorTc  WeeUy  Journal,  No.  242,  July  3,  1738. 

"Ibid.,  Nos.  382  and  384,  March  30,  1741,  and  April  13,  1741. 


148    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

Zenger  are  meager.  Beyond  an  occasional  notice  of 
Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Aesop's  Fables,  and 
Religious  Courtship,  they  note  only  devotional 
manuals  like  A  Choice  Drop  of  Honey  out  of  the 
Rock,  Christ,  or  The  Joy  full  Deaths  of  several  young 
Children.    Sermons,  of  course,  always  abound. 

Far  more  important  than  these  meager  book  no- 
tices, are  the  advertisements  of  a  pantomime  entei*- 
tainment  given  in  New  York  early  in  1739,  and  the 
notices  of  The  Beaux-Stratagem  early  in  1741. 
Theaters  were  common  in  Southern  cities  long  be- 
fore these  dates,  but  Bradford  and  Zenger  have  the 
distinction  of  publishing  some  of  the  first,  if  not  the 
first  notices  of  theatrical  entertainments  actually 
presented  north  of  Virginia.  Through  the  month  of 
February,  1739,  both  the  Gazette  and  the  Journal 
informed  their  readers  that  The  Adventures  of 
Harlequin  and  Scaramouch  would  be  performed 
*4n  Mr.  Holt's  Long  Eoom,''  where  the  Audience 
would  also  be  shown  '*An  Optick,  wherein  will  be 
Eepresented,  in  Perspective,  several  of  the  most 
noted  Cities  and  remarkable  Places  in  Europe  and 
America,  with  a  New  Prologue  and  Epilogue  ad- 
dressed to  the  Town.''  As  the  Epilogue  was  to  be 
*^ spoken  by  Master  Holt,"  we  may  infer  that  the 
whole  of  this  varied  performance  represented  pri- 
vate enterprise.  The  pantomime  was  similar  to  that 
advertised  in  Charleston  four  years  before,  if  not 
identical  with  it.  Therefore  the  subject  will  be  more 
conveniently  treated  in  a  later  chapter.^* 

The    JournaVs    advertisements    of    The    Beaux- 

=«Vide  infra.  Chap.  VIII. 


WAB    BETWEEN    GAZETTE    AND    JOURNAL  149 

Stratagem  early  in  February,  1741,  refer  to  a  public 
performance  in  the  '^new  Theatre  in  the  Broad 
Way,"  and  indicate  that  Farquhar's  comedy  was  as 
popular  in  New  York  as  it  had  been  earlier  in  Wil- 
liamsburg.^^ 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  literary  material  of 
The  Neiu  York  Weekly  Journal,  and,  in  lesser 
degree,  of  The  New  York  Gazette,  is  unusually  signi- 
ficant. That  a  violent  political  quarrel  in  a  provin- 
cial town  of  1734  should  rouse  the  participants  to 
the  use  of  Addison,  Steele  and  the  British  Cato  as 
models  for  their  controversial  essays,  to  the  use  of 
A  Tale  of  a  Tub  for  their  bitterest  satire,  to  the 
use  of  Hudihras  as  a  model  for  their  verse,  proves 
beyond  a  doubt  that  English  secular  literature  often 
influenced  the  colonies  within  a  generation  of  its 
original  jDublication.  In  the  further  development 
which  Zenger  's  paper  underwent,  we  often  find  Eng- 
lish essays  of  only  two  months  previous,  either  re- 
printed or  used  as  models  for  original  work  in  the 
Journal. 

'^Vide  infra,  Chap.  VII. 


CHAPTEE  VI 

The  Makyland  Gazette 

Hitherto  a  rare  good  fortune  has  enabled  us  to 
rely  on  complete,  or  nearly  complete  files  of  eight- 
eenth-century newspapers.  The  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society  lacks  comparatively  few  issues  of 
The  New  England  Courant,  while  its  file  of  The  Neiv 
England  Weekly  Journal  combined  with  the  file  in 
the  Athenaeum  Library  furnishes  a  sequence  almost 
as  orderly  as  one  could  ask  for  in  a  newspaper  office 
to-day.  Only  a  paper  now  and  then  is  missing  from 
the  volumes  of  the  Mercury  after  1729,  and  The 
Pennsylvania  Gazette  complete  is  in  the  possession 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

By  using  the  New  York  Public  Library's  collec- 
tion along  with  those  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society  and  the  New  York  Society  Library,  an  ex- 
cellent set  of  New  York  papers  can  be  pieced  to- 
gether. For  a  historical  investigation,  of  course, 
even  the  loss  of  a  few  issues  may  take  on  a  grave 
importance.  For  a  literary  analysis  it  is  not  so. 
Although  something  of  immense  interest  may  be 
gone  from  our  account,  the  literary  characteristics 
of  a  paper  remain  fairly  constant,  and,  given  any 
considerable  stretch  of  time,  are  sure  to  repeat  them- 
selves. But  if  we  have  only  fragments  to  go  upon, 
even  literary  analysis  becomes  very  difficult.  This 
is   especially  true  in  the   case   of   The  Maryland 

150 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  151 

Gazette^  established  contemporaneously  with  The 
New  England  Weekly  Journal,  and  two  years  before 
Franklin's  Gazette. 

As  the  case  stands  at  present,  the  Maryland  His- 
torical Society's  rigid  and  extensive  search  through- 
out the  country  has  brought  to  light  only  scattering 
numbers  of  The  Maryland  Gazette  before  1750.  Its 
own  file  from  December  10,  1728,  to  July  22,  1729, 
can  be  supplemented  by  two  numbers  of  June  and 
October,  1729,  in  the  New  York  Public  Library, 
which  also  has  ten  numbers  of  1730,  six  of  1733,  and 
nine  of  1734.  These  are  all  the  extant  papers  tintil 
the  Maryland  Historical  Society's  fairly  complete 
file  from  1745  to  1749  takes  up  the  tale.  The  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society  has  four  scattering  num- 
bers of  October  and  November,  1748,  in  addition  to 
a  few  numbers  after  1750.  More  than  ten  interesting 
years,  therefore,  important  for  our  purpose,  are  en- 
tirely a  blank. 

However,  there  are  one  or  two  significant  facts 
which  put  the  treatment  of  the  earlier  years  on  a 
somewhat  firmer  footing.  The  publisher  and  editor 
of  the  old  Maryland  Gazette  became  the  first  pro- 
prietor and  editor  of  a  Virginia  paper,  the  rather 
famous  Virginia  Gazette,  in  1736.  Of  this  the  Vir- 
ginia Historical  Society  has  a  beautifully  preserved 
file  up  to  1740.^  Naturally,  then,  the  editor  of  the 
two  papers  gave  somewhat  the  same  general  char- 
acter to  both,  though  of  course  the  Virginia  enter- 
prise represents  his  maturer  work.    Presumably  the 

^Vide  infra,  chapter  VII^  for  a  full  discussion  of  Th-e  Virginia 
Gazette. 


152    LITERABY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

early  missing  numbers  of  The  Maryland  Gazette 
partook  of  the  general  literary  tone  of  the  Virginia 
paper.  And  this  conclusion  is  borne  out  by  an  ex- 
amination of  the  extant  numbers  of  The  Maryland 
Gazette  up  to  1735.  After  that  we  can  draw  no 
inferences  from  the  character  of  the  Virginia  weekly, 
since  the  Maryland  paper  passed  out  of  the  hands  of 
its  first  editor  when  he  was  about  to  make  his  new 
venture  in  Virginia. 

And  who  was  this  editor?  7' The  name  of  William 
Parks  is  not  widely  known,  perhaps  for  the  reason 
that  tradition  has  left  such  meager  details  of  his 
life.  Nothing  personal,  characteristic,  remains  to 
tell  us  what  manner  of  man  he  was.  The  few  known 
facts  are  very  significant,  however.  He  was  an  Eng- 
lishman, born  in  Gosport,  England,  and  emigrated 
to  Maryland  to  establish  his  Gazette  there  in  1727. 
Hence  he  may  fairly  be  called  one  of  the  pioneer 
colonial  editors,  the  first,  as  it  happened,  to  be  born 
and  reared  in  England.  And  this  fact  must  have 
had  an  important  bearing  on  his  work.  He  published 
The  Maryland  Gazette  in  Annapolis,  for  eight  years, 
until  1735.  But  at  least  two  years  before  that  date, 
he  opened  a  printing  office  in  Williamsburg,  the  old 
capital  of  Virginia.  His  advertisements  of  1733  and 
1734  in  The  Maryland  Gazette  tell  us  that  certain 
books  were  ^ Sprinted  and  sold  by  William  Parks,  at 
his  Printing-Offices  in  Williamshurg  and  Annapolis. " ' 
The  Virginia  State  Library  has  a  copy  of  the  Laws 
of  Virginia,  bearing  his  imprint,  and  the  date,  1733. 
This  means  that  he  had  won  official  recognition.  The 
Maryland  assembly,  too,  passed  an  act,  April  12, 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  153 

1733,  jDroviding  ^'for  tlie  speedy  and  effectual  Pub- 
lication of  the  Laws  of  this  Province;  and  for  the 
Encouragement  of  William  Parks,  of  the  City  of 
Annapolis,  Printer/ '^ 

So  we  see  thai  Parks  conducted  just  such  a  triple 
business  establishment  as  Franklin's.  He  sold 
books,  he  printed  books,  and  he  printed  and  edited 
a  newspaper.\  /  The  importations  from  London  were 
quite  casual,  'however,  until  he  established  a  regu- 
larly well-supplied  store  in  1742,  at  his  office  in  Wil- 
liamsburg. He  seems  to  have  lived  in  Virginia  after 
1735,  and  to  have  become  thoroughly  identified  with 
his  adopted  land.  Sarah  Shelton,  Patrick  Henry's 
first  wife,  was  very  probably  a  granddaughter  of 
William  Parks. ^ 

Naturally,  Parks  must  have  had  a  later  and  more 
first-hand  knowledge  of  contemporary  English  life 
than  the  ordinary  provincial  editor.  Franklin,  it  is 
true,  was  in  England  for  eighteen  months  before  he 
wrote  the  Busy-Body  papers,  but  although  he  met 
a  number  of  distinguished  persons,  he  dissipated  his 
time,  on  the  whole.  Very  likely  William  Parks  was 
a  young  journeyman  in  London  when  Ambrose 
Phillips's  Freetlmiker  was  coming  out  twice  a  week,^ 
and  possibly  also  when  Aaron  Hill's  Plam  Dealer 
was  enlightening  the  town.^     Beyond  a  doubt  he 

-  See  The  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  19  of  the  new  series,  April  13, 
1733. 

^  For  a  discussion  of  this  point,  see  an  interesting  article  in  The 
William  and  Mary  College  Quarterly,  Vol.  VII,  pp.  9-17,  on  Old  Vir- 
ginia Editors. 

*  That  is,  from  March  24,  1718,  to  September  28,  1719. 

"From  March  23,  1724,  to  May  7,  1725.     Eeprinted  in  1734. 


154    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

knew  them  both.  The  first  thing  to  meet  the  eye  in 
the  first  extant  number  of  The  Maryland  Gazette  is 
an  essay  periodical  called  The  Plain  Dealer,  of  which 
the  material  is  taken  from  Phillips's  eightieth  Free- 
thinker. 

Of  course  there  is  no  means  of  knowing  that  Parks 
or  his  unknown  correspondent  borrowed  the  title  of 
his  essay  series  from  Aaron  HilPs  Plain  Dealer, 
The  name  is  so  typical  of  early  eighteenth-century 
writing  that  it  was  probably  to  be  found  in  many 
a  source  not  now  accessible.  More  significant  than 
such  a  profitless  inquiry  is  the  fact  that  for  the 
first  time  an  American  paper  gave  a  distinct  title 
like  The  Plain  Dealer,  The  Censor,  The  Freethinker, 
to  its  periodical  essays.  The  Busy-Body,  we  re- 
member, began  several  months  later.^  The  literary 
efforts  of  Proteus  Echo  in  The  New  England  Weekly 
Journal"  had  no  specific  title.  Moreover,  all  the 
earlier  groups  of  essays  are  more  distinctly  modeled 
on  the  Spectator,  That  is  to  say,  they  were  a  little 
behind  the  fashion.  Periodical  writing  in  England 
had  undergone  a  number  of  changes  and  develop- 
ments in  ten  years.  And  although  echoes  of  the 
newer  papers  can  be  heard  in  even  the  earliest 
American  essays,  the  new  style  definitely  appears 
for  the  first  time  in  The  Maryland  Gazette, 

A  new  fashion  often  merely  exaggerates  some  as- 
pect of  the  old.  This  was  emphatically  true  in  the 
periodicals  following  Addison  and  Steele.  Very 
little  can  be  found  in  them  that  does  not  hark  back 


•Early  in  1729. 
'  Of  1727-1728. 


THE    MAKYLAND    GAZETTE  155 

to  tlie  Spectator  or  the  Tatler.  But  whereas  fable, 
allegory,  legend  and  fairy  tale  played  a  subordinate 
part  in  the  classical  British  essays,  they  were  fre- 
quent in  the  later  periodicals  along  with  a  changed 
tone  of  philosophical  discussion,  and,  curiously 
enough,  with  a  great  advance  in  the  dramatic  han- 
dling of  conversation.  No  doubt  the  essay  and  the 
novel  were  beginning  to  play  upon  each  other.  This 
last  aspect,  however,  does  not  appear  in  the  extant 
numbers  of  The  Plain-Dealer,  and  may  be  more 
profitably  considered  in  examining  a  brilliant  series 
of  essays  in  The  Virginia  Gazette,^  unexampled  in 
this  particular  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  before 
1750. 

As  to  the  other  developments  referred  to,  they  are 
all  represented  in  the  few  extant  numbers  of  The 
Plain  Dealer  and  furnish  one  more  proof  that  the 
eighteenth  century  should  not  be  summed  up  as 
*^the  age  of  prose  and  reason.'^  Fables  in  verse 
and  prose  obtained  an  amazing  popularity,  not  only 
the  fanciful,  original  variety  of  Gay  and  Smart,  but 
popular  collections  of  ancient  fables  like  The  Fahii- 
lator,  or  the  Hall  of  Aesop,  Toland  edited  Aesop ^s 
fables  in  1704  for  Anthony  Collins.  Sir  Eoger 
L 'Estrange 's  collection  was  known  in  New  York. 
And  all  the  eighteenth- century  periodicals  drew  on 
them  for  their  lighter  papers.  As  to  fairy  tales  and 
popular  legends,  no  medieval  audience  ever  re- 
ceived them  more  greedily.  The  one  vital  differ- 
ence between  the  medieval  fairy  tale  and  that  of 
the  eighteenth  century  is  in  the  moral  treatment. 

*  See  chapter  VII  for  a  full  discussion. 


156    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

The  original  version  had  a  moral — perhaps.  Cer- 
tainly the  wicked  stepmother  or  mother-in-law  meets 
her  doom.  But  the  eighteenth-century  tale  is  all 
moral,  from  beginning  to  end,  a  mere  embroidery 
for  a  text  on  contentment,  or  a  warning  against  the 
snares  of  beauty.^  Even  the  mother-in-law's  fate 
is  forgotten,  so  long  as  the  heroine's  character  be- 
comes beatific  through  discipline. 

To  be  more  specific,  just  such  a  series  of  fairy 
stories  and  legends  from  the  East  may  be  found  in 
Ambrose  Phillips's  Freethinker.^^  Phillips  was 
assisted  in  his  undertaking  by  Bishop  Boulter, 
Eichard  West,  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  George  Stubbs, 
Gilbert  Burnet,  and  Henry  Steevens.  Their  solemn 
philosophical  discourses  are  interrupted^^  by  a  series 
of  Winter  Evening  Tales,  Phillips  did  not  forget 
the  fair  sex,  and  laid  great  stress  on  pleasing  them. 
For  had  not  Phillips  himself  written  for  the  Specta- 
tor? One  of  these  Winter  Evening  Tales^^  is  no 
other  than  Chaucer's  Man  of  Law's  Tale  under  a 
new  guise, — that  world-old  tale  of  the  cruel  mother- 
in-law  and  the  beautiful  young  bride,  whom  she  suc- 
ceeds in  separating  from  her  husband.  The  story 
goes  back  through  the  Constance  saga  to  remote 
Eastern  origins,  but  nowhere  on  its  long  road  had 
it  taken  this  unique  form.     Instead  of  the  happy 

®  For  example,  see  TJie  Prophetic  Bee,  p.  131  of  A  Collection  of 
Fugitive  Fables.  Florella  is  warned  by  the  bee  against  trusting  in 
beauty. 

"  The  Freethinker  began  March  24,  1718,  and  ended  with  its  one 
hundred  and  fifty-ninth  paper,  September  28,  1719. 

"  See  Nos.  80,  84,  92,  109,  110  for  instances. 

"In  FreethinTcer  No.  80. 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  157 

reunion,  and  the  summary  punishment  of  the  schem- 
ing mother,  the  imprisoned  bride  is  given  one  chance 
of  escape  by  the  benignant  fairy  who  visits  her. 
She  may  return  to  her  shepherdess  life,  this  time 
with  an  ugly  face,  but  with  a  contented  heart !  This 
is  the  tale  which  is  taken  bodily  into  The  Plain 
Dealer^^  in  The  Maryland  Gazette,  introduced  by  six 
lines  from  Dryden's  Juvenal  on  man's  ignorance  of 
his  own  good. 

Look  round  the  habitable  World  how  few 

Know  their  own  Good !  or  knowing  it  pursue ! 

How  void  of  Reason  are  our  Hopes  and  Fears! 

What  in  the  Conduct  of  our  Life  appears 

So  well  designed,  so  luckily  begun, 

But  when  we  have  our  Wish,  we  wish  undone? 

Thus  a  good  old  popular  story  is  made  to  fit 
Dryden's  moralizing  couplets.  Drj^den,  indeed,  and 
Pope  as  well,  furnished  the  text  of  many  a  pious  tale, 
many  a  commonplace  sermon-essay,  not  only  in  Eng- 
land, but  in  the  colonies. 

Allegory,  vision,  dream  literature  of  all  sorts,  are 
nearly  as  common  in  an  eighteenth-century  period- 
ical as  in  a  fourteenth-century  homily.  The  alle- 
gorical characters  frequently  have  even  the  same 
names,  though  of  course  the  eighteenth-century 
figure  of  Eeason  or  Virtue  or  Love  is  not  developed 
with  the  rich  and  quaint  physical  imagery  of  the 
earlier  type.     No  mystic  numbers, ^^  no  crown  of 

^  Plain  Dealer,  No.  4,  Maryland  Gazette,  December  10,  1728. 
"  See  Sir  Gawain  and  the  Green  Knight,  et  passim,  in  medieval 
literature. 


158    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

pearls,^^  no  gem-stone  Maidenhood,^^  no  blue  robes 
for  Loyalty^ ^  bring  varied  beauty  to  the  cold  lay 
figures  of  eighteentb-century  abstractions.  The 
landscape  which  forms  the  setting  for  these  lay 
figures  is  often  not  unlike  the  conventional  May 
morning  of  medieval  allegory,  although  treated 
more  formally  and  at  the  same  time  more  senti- 
mentally than  the  latter. 

The  dream  or  vision  of  virtue  and  vice  in  the  eighth 
number  of  The  Plain  Dealer^^  begins  with  the  wooing 
of  a  maid  in  a  spring  landscape  of  flowered  meadow, 
and  proceeds  to  give  the  warnings  and  exhortations 
of  Virtue  and  Vice  as  they  individually  appear  to 
the  lover.  Virtue,  as  usual,  means  reason  or  self- 
control.  This  whole  allegory  is  undeniably  tedious. 
The  introductory  sentences  promise  well,  but  em- 
phatically do  not  fulfill  their  promise.  '^  There  is 
nothing  more  common,''  says  the  Plain  Dealer, 
*'than  to  Nod  over  a  Standish,  and  to  write  out  sev- 
eral Sheets  of  Paper  (as  it  were)  in  One's  Sleep, 
while  the  Author  imagines  himself  broad  awake. 
On  the  contrary,  Our  real  Slumber  may  sometimes 
contribute  to  our  Instruction."  Alas,  he  was  de- 
ceived if  he  thought  that  his  did.  We  prefer  him 
nodding  over  his  standish. 

Speculations  on  government  were  popular  not 
only  in  party  papers  and  pamphlets,  but  in  all  pe- 

"  See  The  Pearl,  a  fourteenth-century  poem  of  uncertain  authorship. 

"  See  the  Love-Rune  of  Thomas  de  Hales,  an  allegorical  poem  of  the 
fourteenth  century. 

"  See  the  Assemble  de  Dames^  in  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  ed. 
Skeat. 

"See  The  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  70,  January  14,  1728-1729. 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  159 

riodicals,  especially  after  the  publication  oiCato's 
Letters.     The  theory  of  constitutional  liberties  was 
threshed   out   from   both   conservative  and   liberal 
points  of  view.     The  Plain  Dealer'^  takes  a  rather 
conservative  middle  ground,  emphasizing  the  danger 
of  designing  leaders,  which  he  illustrates  by  the 
Civil  Wars  in  ''our  Mother  Country."     He  advo- 
cates the  preservation  of  ''as  many  of  the  Antient 
Forms  of  Administration,  as  possible '^  if  a  govern- 
ment is  to  be  remodeled,  and  observes  without  a  hmt 
of  a  possible  reference  to  the  colonies,  that  a  great 
commonwealth,  or  republic,  is  impracticable.     The 
article  concludes  with  a  hearty  eulogium  on  the  late 
Eevolution,  as  "not  only  the  Happiest  but  also  the 
most  wisely  conducted  affair  that  was  ever  executed 
by  Man."    After  all,  the  chief  value  of  this  specula- 
tion on  government  lies  in  its  references  to  "our 
Mother  Country"  and  "our  Parent-Country"  which 
prove  that   The  Plain  Dealer  is  beyond  a  doubt 
American,  however  it  may  have  borrowed  individual 
ideas,  lines  of  argument,  or  tales. 

Perhaps  more  astonishing  than  any  other  echo 
from  England  is  the  Deistic  tendency  of  four  num- 
bers of  The  Plain  Dealer.  One  would  have  thought 
that  the  general  piety  of  any  colonial  community, 
whether  Church  of  England  or  dissenting,  would 
have  made  the  slightest  approach  to  Deism  peril- 
ously offensive.  In  fact  we  know  that  it  did,  in 
Franklin's  case;2<>  even  though  he  had  really  lost  in- 
terest in  Deism  before  his  return  to  Philadelphia. 

i»No.  10,  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  74,  February  11,  1728-29. 
**Vide  supra,  chapters  III  and  IV. 


160    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

That  is  to  say,  he  never  wrote  or  acted  in  defence  of 
it  after  his  early  '^wicked"  tract  on  liberty  and 
necessity.  Philosophically  he  remained  a  Deist,  it 
is  true,  but  actually  he  developed  a  kind  of  pragma- 
tism or  humanitarianism  of  his  own.  Certainly  he 
never  wrote  any  articles  for  his  Gazette,  openly  ad- 
vising free  enquiry  on  all  hands. 

The  Plain  Dealer  deliberately  defends  philosoph- 
ical doubting^^  as  the  only  way  to  a  firm  and  reason- 
able faith,  saying-^  that  '4t  is  highly  unreasonable 
and  very  insiduous  to  deter  Men  yet  more  from  a 
fair  Enquiry  ...  by  grave  Kepresentations  of  the 
Danger  of  it;  thus  furnishing  an  Excuse  for  con- 
tented Ignorance  and  Presumption;  Strengthening 
thereby  the  Treachery  of  our  Prejudices  with  a  false 
Colour  of  Sanctity  and  Zeal.''  He  recommends  ^^a 
manly  freedom  of  thought. ' '  Yet  he  adds  a  modifi- 
cation which  leaves  the  bewildered  modern  reader 
with  the  dazed  sense  that  he  has  been  told  to  swim 
without  going  near  the  water.  ''The  great  Truths 
of  Eeligion,  Morality  and  Virtue,"  says  the  Plain 
Dealer,^^  ''are  easily  apprehended  by  the  ordinary 
mind."  Further,  he  explains,  there  is  no  need  to 
regard  the  "Eefinements  in  these  several  Topicks, 
which  have  been  introduced  into  the  World  by  Spec- 
ulative Men. ' '  Just  how  a  free  enquiry  is  to  be  con- 
ducted without  touching  on  the  great  truths  of  re- 
ligion, morality  and  virtue  is  as  mysterious  as  any 
speculative  refinement  could  be. 

^  Plain  Dealer,  Nos.  3,  5,  9. 

^  In  a  Letter  to  the  Plain  Dealer,  No.  9^  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  71, 
January  21,  1728-29. 

'^^  Plain  Dealer,  No.  5,  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  66,  December  17,  1728. 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  161 

But  it  is  a  mystery  very  characteristic  of  Deism, 
especially  early  Deism  in  England.  Shaftesbury^^ 
pulls  himself  together  again  and  again  with  the  as- 
surance that  his  principles  are  in  perfect  accord  with 
^  ^  our  holy  religion. '  ^  In  fact  every  idea  of  the  Plain 
Dealer  on  philosophic  doubt  shows  the  influence  of 
the  Deistic  speculation  in  England.  ''This,  my 
Lord,''  says  Shaftesbury,  in  his  Letter  concerning 
Enthusiasms^  addressed  to  Somers,  "is  the  best 
security  against  all  superstition;  to  remember  that 
there  is  nothing  in  God  but  what  is  godlike ;  and  that 
he  is  either  not  at  all,  or  truly  and  perfectly  good. 
But  when  we  are  afraid  to  use  our  reason  freely, 
even  on  that  very  question,  'whether  he  really  be, 
or  not,'  we  then  actually  presume  him  bad,  and 
flatly  contradict  that  pretended  character  of  good- 
ness and  greatness ;  whilst  we  discover  this  mistrust 
of  his  temper,  and  fear  his  anger  and  resentment,  in 
the  case  of  this  freedom  of  inquiry.  .  .  .  For  what 
merit  can  there  be  in  believing  God,  or  his  provi- 
dence, upon  frivolous  and  weak  grounds?  What 
virtue  in  assuming  an  opinion  contrary  to  the 
appearance  of  things,  and'  resolving  to  hear 
nothing  which  may  be  said  against  it?  Excel- 
lent character  of  the  God  of  truth !  that  he  should  be 
offended  at  us  for  having  refused  to  put  the  lie  upon 
our  understanding,  as  much  as  in  us  lay,  and  be  sat- 
isfied with  us  for  having  believed  at  a  venture,  and 
against  our  reason,  what  might  have  been  the  great- 

"  Throughout  the  Characteristics,  but  especially  in  the  Miscellaneous 
Reflections. 

^  See  Characteristics  of  Men,  Manners,  Opinions,  Times,  ed.  John 
M.  Eobertson,  Vol.  I,  p.  25. 

12 


162    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

est  falsehood  in  the  world,  for  anything  we  could 
bring  as  a  proof  or  evidence  to  the  contrary!" 

By  enthusiasm,  of  course,  Shaftesbury  meant  fa- 
naticism. Such  was  its  common  significance,  espe- 
cially among  Churchmen,  and  such  will  be  its  ordi- 
nary meaning  in  any  eighteenth-century  allusion. 
To  call  a  person  an  enthusiast  meant  calling  him  an 
evangelist  and  something  more.  To  have  ''an  en- 
thusiastick  fit"  was  to  have  a  fit  of  raving.  The  dis- 
tinction will  be  an  important  one  for  our  later 
chapters. 

The  Plain  Dealer  uses  the  word  in  precisely  this 
sense  in  a  passage  very  suggestive  of  Shaftesbury .^^ 
''Eeligion  has  three  great  Adversaries,  Atheism, 
Superstition,  and  Enthusiasm,"  the  Plain  Dealer 
says.  A  treatment  of  superstition  follows,  character- 
izing Christian  superstitions  as  worse  than  others, 
even  as  the  Christian  religion  in  its  purity  is  the 
best  of  all. 

No  doubt  The  Plain  Dealer  would  yield  much  lit- 
erary material  if  we  had  more  than  these  ten  num- 
bers to  examine.  We  do  not  even  know  that  there 
ever  were  more  than  ten.  The  series  is  abruptly 
cut  off  so  far  as  the  extant  files  of  The  Maryland 
Gazette  show.  Yet  other  essays  and  verse  of  vari- 
ous sorts  may  be  found  in  the  scattering  numbers 
up  to  1735. 

Besides  the  usual  reprints  of  articles  from  cur- 
rent  English   papers    and   pamphlet s,^^   there   are 

""^  Plain  Dealer,  No.  7,  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  69,  January  1, 1728-29. 

^  Such  as  the  long  sermon  on  tea  drinking  in  No.  162,  Oct.  20,  1730, 
introduced  as  follows:  "In  hopes  it  may  prove  diverting^  if  not  use- 
ful to  some  of  our  Headers;  we  give  them  the  following  Letter  from 
An  English  Paper." 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  163 

several  English  items  of  lively  interest.  One  of  the 
earliest  theatrical  notices  to  reach  an  American  pa- 
per-^^  informs  the  inhabitants  of  Maryland  on  May 
26,  1730,  that  on  the  27th  of  January  last  (in  Lon- 
don, of  course)  '^at  the  Anniversary  Feast  of  the 
Ancient  and  Honourable  Society  of  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons,  after  Dinner,  the  Grand  Master 
bespoke  the  Tragedy  of  The  Sequel  of  King  Henry 
IV,  with  the  Humours  of  Sir  John  Falstaff,  etc.  to 
be  Acted  on  the  Twelfth  of  February  following,  at 
the  Theatre  Koyal  in  Drury  Lane,  for  the  Enter- 
tainment of  the  Society  .  .  .  and  ordered  a  new 
Prologue  and  Epilogue  to  be  made  upon  the  Occa- 
sion, with  proper  Alterations  in  the  Play  to  intro- 
duce the  Apprentice's  and  Master's  Song;  all  which 
was  perform 'd  with  great  Applause  last  Thursday, 
the  Brethren  in  the  Pit  and  Boxes  joining  in  the 
Chorus."  Both  the  prologue  and  the  epilogue  of 
this  ill-assorted  entertainment  are  given  in  The 
Maryland  Gazette;  dull  enough  couplets  offering  a 
general  apology  for  Masons.  No  doubt  all  this  fan- 
fare was  a  bit  of  advertisement  for  the  Ancient  and 
Honourable  Society  of  Masons. 

A  delightful  item  from  Bath^^  takes  us  to  the 
scene  of  English  pride  and  fashion  in  the  season: 
*^Mr.  Congreve,  the  celebrated  Poet,  was  overturn 'd 
in  his  Chariot  by  the  Horses  running  back  down  the 

^  Doubtless  the  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  newspapers  would  have 
had  such  notices  even  earlier  had  they  been  in  existence.  The  South 
Carolina  Gazette  was  not  established  until  1731;  The  Virginia  Gazette 
not  until  1736. 

''"Item  of  Sept.  28,  1728,  inserted  in  The  Maryland  Gazette,  No. 
73,  February  4,  1728-29. 


164    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPEKS 

Hill  as  lie  was  going  to  the  Eaces,  but  lie  received 
no  hurt,  having  been  immediately  let  Blood.  Never 
was  known  a  greater  Concourse  of  Quality  here  than 
at  this  Season,  but  many  of  them  will  be  going  away 
next  Week."  How  vividly  this  puts  ^'Mr.  Con- 
greve"  in  his  own  appropriate  setting!  One  has  the 
feeling  that  it  must  have  been  manufactured  for  the 
very  purpose. 

One  piece  taken  boldly  from  the  * '  Pamphelet  enti- 
tled The  Intelligencer/'  published  in  Dublin  in  1728 
and  1729,  assumes  an  importance  far  greater  than 
the  literary  value  of  the  essay  itself,  which  is  an 
ordinary  eighteenth-century  treatment  of  the  old 
theme  of  Prometheus  and  his  journeymen  moulding 
their  clay  images.  By  itself  this  would  be  only  one 
more  indication  of  the  popularity  of  the  essay-fable. 
When  we  recall,  however,  that  this  little  Dublin 
weekly  was  conducted  by  Dr.  Thomas  Sheridan  and 
Dean  Swift,  the  matter  assumes  quite  a  different 
aspect.  If  Parks  read  the  first  number,  a  general 
introduction  to  the  Intelligencer,  the  third  number, 
a  defence  of  The  Beggar's  Opera,  the  nineteenth,  on 
Irish  grievances,  he  was  reading  Swift  directly. 
Certain  papers  in  The  Virginia  Gazette^^  go  far  to 
strengthen  the  probability  that  either  Parks  or  his 
correspondents  knew  the  Intelligencer  well.  Like 
so  many  of  the  little  weeklies  between  1720  and  1730, 
it  had  only  the  brief  existence  of  a  year.  On  March 
6,  1729,  Swift  wrote  to  Pope  that  Dr.  Sheridan 
*^made  but  sorry  work  of  the  Intelligencer/' 

Ireland  and  Irish  affairs  were  evidently  of  inter- 

^*Vide  infra,  chapter  VII. 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  165 

est  to  Maryland  and  Virginia  readers.  The  Gazette 
celebrated^ Saint  Patrick's  Day,  1730,^^  by  publish- 
ing in  full  the  verses  of  Somerset  English,  "sacred 
to  Mirth  and  Good-Nature"  on  Saint  Patrick  and 
the  serpents, 

whose  Names  I'll  not  rehearse, 
Lest  they  should  shed  their  Poisons  o'er  my  Verse. 

The  whole  poem  is  a  plea  for  good-will  between 

England  and  her  nearest  neighbors : 

Why  should  a  true-born  Son  of  English  Breed, 
Despise  his  Brother  dwelling  o'er  the  Tweed? 
Or  why  not  deign  with  cheerful  Face  to  smile. 
On  him  who  dwells  in  near  Hybernia's  Isle? 

Besides  other  commonplace  English  verse,  and 
some  rather  good  doggerel  like  these  lines  on  the 
Spaniards,^2 

' '  Jack  Spaniard  should  know, 
and  speedily  too, 
He's  no  more  at  Sea  than  a  Goose,  Sir," 

native  verse  takes  a  rather  prominent  place  in  the 
Gazette,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  scattering  extant 
numbers,  and  by  The  Virginia  Gazette.  There  are 
the  usual  stupid  elegies,^^  and  complimentary  poems, 
but,  in  addition,  two  or  three  interesting  attempts  to 
reflect  the  life  of  the  new  world.  One  of  these  indi- 
cates the  close  relationship  between  Williamsburg 
and  Annapolis,  which  eventually  led  William  Parks 

8^  See  The  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  131. 

^-Ibid.,  No.  81,  April  1,  1729. 

^  Such  as  tlie  elegy  on  Miss  Elizabeth  Young,  in  couplets,  October 

20,  1730,  No.  162. 


166    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

to  open  a  Virginia  office.  No  doubt  he  was  already 
considering  his  new  venture  when  the  two  poems 
from  William  and  Mary  College  were  published  in 
his  Maryland  paper  in  1729.^^  The  college  was 
obliged  to  pay  two  complimentary  Latin  poems  to 
the  Governor  of  Virginia  every  fifth  of  November 
as  quit  rent  for  its  land.  President  Blair's  verses 
on  The  Suppression  of  the  late  Rebellion,  and  Pro- 
fessor Blackamore's^^  on  The  Mountain  Expedition 
into  western  Virginia,  were  translated  into  Popean 
heroic  couplets  by  the  Kev.  George  Seagood,  and 
sent  to  The  Maryland  Gazette  by  Ecclesiasticus, 
whoever  he  may  have  been.  The  important  fact  to 
be  noted  is  that  through  all  their  formal  imitation 
of  Pope's  epic  manner,  they  were  attempting  to  de- 
scribe new  conditions  of  life  in  a  new  world.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  difficult  mountain  exploration  had 
made  a  great  impression,  as  the  latest  travelling  ex- 
ploits are  always  sure  to  do. 

Another  ^'Copy  of  Verses"  shows  an  amusing 
translation  of  eighteenth-century  ideals  of  poverty 
and  retirement  into  the  terms  of  native  life  in  Ja- 
maica. The  verses  are  called  The  Aged  Creole:  or 
the  Way  to  Long  Life  in  Jamaica.  A  Copy  of  Verses, 
Occasioned  by  a  Conversation  with  an  Ancient  Per- 
son of  that  Island.^^  Eeferences  to  the  race  prob- 
lem and  other  local  facts  establish  clearly  enough 
the  general  Western  origin  of  the  verses.  The 
eights  and  sixes  of  their  metrical  form,  too,  were 
doubtless  intended  to  reflect  the  rustic  simplicity  of 

"^No.  93,  June  24,  1729. 

^  Professor  of  Humanities  at  William  and  Mary  College. 

««In  The  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  133,  March  31,  1730. 


THE    MAKYLAND    GAZETTE  167 

the  ancient  Creole,  whose  ideas  are  so  elaborate. 
He  resigns  ambitions  that  he  could  never  have  heard 
of  in  his  native  state,  in  favor  of  the  simple  cot  in- 
voked by  every  eighteenth-century  poet  sooner  or 
later. 

*'  Tell  me,  Old  Man,  with  stooping  Head, 
With  Snowy  White  o  'er-run ; 
Tell  me,  what  Life  you  here  have  led, 
So  long  i'  the  Burning  Sun." 

Answ.  "Free  from  Ambition  is  my  Mind, 
I  know  my  lowly  State 
I  humbly  yield  to  what  I  find. 
Nor  spurn  the  Laws  of  Fate. 


Of  Rum  I  keep  a  moderate  Cask, 
And  eat  the  Food  I  love. 

With  troubl  'd  Mind  I  ne  're  was  caught, 

For  Loss  of  Land  or  Gold; 
I  ne're  was  vex'd  for  Skooner  bought. 

Or  Duke  of  Chandos  sold. 

On  what  I  have  my  Mind  I  fix 

Nor  envy  Neighbour's  Fare; 
I  never  long'd  for  Coach  and  Six, 

Or  rob'd  the  Orphan  Heir. 

You  say,  The  Climate  is  the  Cause, 

By  Heats  and  Colds,  you  fall; 
You  die  not.  Sir,  by  Nature's  Laws, 

Ambition  kills  you  all. ' ' 

No  doubt  all  this  is  very  absurd.  But  surely  in  a 
remote  country,  in  an  unpoetic  age,  it  is  worth  men- 
tioning, as  an  attempt  at  verse  form  other  than  the 
elegy  and  the  hymn. 


168    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

In  the  mere  relating  of  news  a  colonial  paper 
sometimes  shows  art  of  an  interesting  kind,  espe- 
cially in  letters  between  individuals  in  the  different 
provinces.  A  letter  from  a  distance  meant  almost 
more  than  we  can  conceive.  Naturally  the  recipient 
often  shared  its  news  items  or  its  descriptions  with 
the  public.  Such  a  letter  could  be  easily  written  in 
the  editor's  chair,  of  course,  and  given  an  imaginary 
date,  place,  and  signature.  There  is  no  means  of 
proving  that  the  Extract  of  a  Letter  from  a  Gentle- 
man in  South  Carolina^  to  a  Gentleman  in  Philadel- 
phia, dated  July  1,  1734,  and  inserted  in  The  Mary- 
land Gazette^'^  is  genuine.  In  any  case,  it  contains 
a  most  Defoe-like  narrative  of  a  bloody  mutiny  led 
by  four  mulattoes  on  a  schooner  from  Havannah 
and  Harbour-Island.  The  story  has  all  Defoe's  pre- 
cision of  detail;  we  are  told  the  exact  number  on 
board,  the  particular  circumstances  of  each  passen- 
ger, the  exact  day  after  sailing  on  which  every  thrill- 
ing event  occurred.  The  villains  all  met  their  just 
fate  in  one  way  or  another.  The  narrative  is  more 
rapid,  of  course,  than  Defoe's,  as  the  letter  is  brief, 
comparatively  speaking.  But  certainly  nothing  could 
be  more  like  his  cold,  plain  way  of  telling  horrors. 
The  schooner  belonged  to  a  '  ^  Spanish  Gentleman  of 
the  Havannah"  who  ^^ marry 'd  about  8  Months  ago 
to  a  clever  young  Lady. ' ' 

This  is  not  the  place  to  speak  of  The  Maryland 
Gazette's  full  reports*^^  of  Governor  Burnet's  com- 

'^No.  73,  new  series,  August  2,  1734. 

®  See  No.  Ill,  October  2»,  1729,  and  Nos.  9  and  10,  new  series, 
February  2  and  February  9,  1732-33. 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  169 

plicated  arguments  with  his  Massachusetts  legisla- 
ture over  grants  of  money  and  the  proposed  issue  of 
Bills  of  Credit  without  asking  His  Majesty ^s  con- 
sent lest  it  should  establish  a  precedent  of  depend- 
ence on  the  crown.     The  deep  significance,  the  influ- 
ence of  such  full  reports  in  a  peaceful  province,  we 
leave  to  the  future  historian  who  will  sometime  trace 
the  growth  toward  nationality  in  its  earlier  stages. 
The  voluminous  articles  on  the  tobacco  market,  on 
^^ restraint  of  trade,"  on  a  fixed  price,  and  on  a 
tobacco  trust,— these,  too,  we  must  leave  to  the  in- 
vestigator who  will  write  the  industrial  history  of 
Maryland.     Even  Benjamin  Franklin's  Modest  En- 
quiry into  the  Nature  and  Necessity  of  a  Paper- 
Currency,  "lately  published  in  Pennsylvania,"  and 
"so  nearlv  adapted  to  the  Circumstances  of  this 
Province''  that  it  was  published  in  full  in  The  Mary- 
land Gazette,^^  concerns  us  little,  except  as  a  proof 
of  communication  between  the  provinces. 

Another  aspect  of  the  Gazette  is  very  important, 
however,  for  our  purpose.  As  early  as  1728  Parks 
was  advertising  books  for  sale  at  his  printing  ofQce. 
At  first,  and  indeed,  chiefly,  for  many  years,  he  noted 
merely  devotional  or  else  very  practical  treatises. 
He  did  not  open  a  regular  book  shop  until  1742,  m 
Williamsburg.  He  began,  in  fact,  just  as  Franklin 
and  Bradford  had  begun.  His  early  notices^^  simply 
informed  his  little  public  that  at  his  printing  office 
they  could  be  supplied  with  the  Acts  of  the  Assem- 
\Ay\  John  Warner's  Almanac,  and  Dulany's  Eights 

««No.  97,  July  22,  1729. 

*«  See  TTie  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  66,  December  17,  1728. 


170    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL   NEWSPAPERS 

of  the  Inhabitants  of  Maryland.  Soon  afterward, 
Henry  Darnall's  Letter  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Mary- 
land on  the  Transactions  of  the  Merchants  in  Lon- 
don, for  the  Advancement  of  the  Price  of  Tobacco, 
was  announced  as  a  new  publication  by  Parks.^^ 
Manuals  of  devotion  and  doctrinal  treatises  were 
just  as  prominent  as  in  the  Northern  states,  only 
they  represent  the  devotion  and  doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Some  of  these  Parks  himself 
reprinted.  As  early  as  May  6,  1729,^2  ^^  advertised 
his  own  reprint  of  The  Week's  Preparation  to- 
ward a  ivorthy  receiving  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  ^^  after 
the  Warning  of  the  Church  for  the  Celebration  of 
the  Holy  Communion,''  combined  with  The  Church 
of  England  Man's  Private  Devotions,  and  an  Expla- 
nation of  the  Feasts  and  Fasts,  as  they  are  observed 
in  the  Church  of  England,  These,  he  says,  were 
''printed  on  a  good  Letter  and  Paper:  and  all  Three 
bound  up  together,  and  sold  by  W.  Parks,  Printer  in 
Annapolis.  Price  2s.  6d.  And  considerable  Allow- 
ance to  those  that  buy  a  Quantity."  He  evidently 
expected  large  orders  from  churches.  By  1729, 
then,  he  was  extending  his  Annapolis  business,  but 
there  is  no  mention  of  a  Williamsburg  office. 

This  book  of  devotion  is  advertised  again  and 
again,  but  very  soon  becomes  one  of  a  considerable 
list,  largely  importations.  In  fact  the  advertise- 
ment of  October  20,  1730,^^  has  the  headline  ''Lately 
imported  by  William  Parks,  from  London."     The 

"  See  The  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  70,  January  14,  1728-29. 
*^  Ibid.,  No.  86. 
«Ibid.,  No.  162. 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  171 

interesting  list  which  follows  is  very  much  like 
Franklin's  early  notices,  except  that  one  innocent 
item  in  Parks 's  account  may  have  unsuspected  lit- 
erary significance. 

Tate  and  Brady's  Psalms  bound  up  alone 

Testaments 

Psalters 

SpeUing  Books 

Primers 

Hornbooks 

Books  of  Devotion,  as, 

Drelincourt  on  Death 

Taylor's  Holy  Living  and  Dying 

Duty  of  Man 

D ivin e  Ente rtain ments 

Nelson's  Fasts  and  Feasts 

Week's  Preparation  for  the  Sacrament,  etc. 

Grammars  and  Construing  Books 

Large  and  small  Copy  Books,   with   Copies   ready 

wrote    in    several    curious   Hands    for   Youth   to 

learn  to  write  by. 

Truly,  if  Maryland  gentlemen  depended  on  this 
catalogue  for  their  books  (and  there  is  not  the  slight- 
est probability  that  they  did)  their  culture  in  pure 
letters  would  not  be  extraordinary.  Drelincourt  on 
Death,  oddly  enough,  furnishes  the  only  possibility 
of  this  sort,  with  the  exception  of  Taylor's  Holy 
Living  and  Dying.  Drelincourt 's  treatise  on  the 
fear  of  death  had  been  translated  by  D'Assigny,  and 
published  in  England  in  1675,  under  the  title  The 
Christian's  Defence  against  the  Fear  of  Death,  ivith 
several  Directions  how  to  prepare  ourselves  to  die 
ivell.     Charles  Drelincourt  was  a  minister  of  the 


172    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Calvinist  church  in  Paris  in  the  seventeenth  centnry. 
To  the  fourth  English  edition  of  his  book  was  added 
Defoe's  Apparition  of  Mrs.  Veal.  Since  the  Appa- 
rition was  written  in  1706,  the  edition  that  Parks 
had  for  sale  in  1730  may  have  included  Defoe's  re- 
port of  the  case  of  Mrs.  Veal.  In  many  roundabout 
ways  like  these  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Defoe 
was  being  read  and  enjoyed  in  America. 

The  fear  of  Deism  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  was 
evidently  strong  enough  to  warrant  a  reprint  by 
William  Parks  of  Charles  Leslie's  famous  tract 
against  Deism.  ^'Lately  Published/'  we  read  in 
The  Maryland  Gazette  of  May  24,  1734,^4  ''A  Short 
and  Easy  Method  tvith  the  Deists.  Wherein  the 
Certainty  of  the  Christian  Eeligion  is  demonstrated 
by  infallible  Proof,  from  Four  Eules,  which  are  in- 
compatible to  any  Imposture  that  ever  yet  has  been, 
or  that  can  Possibly  be.  In  a  Letter  to  a  Friend. 
To  which  is  added,  A  Letter  from  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Leslie,  to  a  Deist,  upon  his  Conversion,  hy  reading 
this  Book.  The  Fifth  Edition.  Printed  and  sold  by 
William  Parks,  at  his  Printing-Offices  in  Williams- 
burg, and  Annapolis,  1733."  This  is  explicit  and 
definite.  Parks  reprinted  the  pamphlet  himself.  It 
was  first  published  in  London,  in  the  year  1698.  The 
Letter  to  a  Deist  upon  his  Conversion'^^  was  written 
by  Leslie  to  Charles  Gildon,  who  had  been  converted 
by  the  Method.  This  Letter  was  often  reprinted  in 
subsequent  editions  of  the  Method.  Hence  Parks 
reprinted  both  in  his  edition. 

"No.  64.     Eepeated  September  27  and  November  22  of  the  same 
year. 

** First  published  in  Gildon 's  Deist's  Manual,  1705. 


THE    MAKYLAND    GAZETTE  173 

So  great  was  the  Southerner's  love  for  a  bit  of 
verse  to  set  off  even  a  most  practical  subject,  that 
Parks,  in  advertising^^  his  reprint  of  Every  Man  his 
own  Doctor:  Or,  The  Poor  Planter's  Physician, '^'^ 
added  a  quotation  from  Paradise  Lost  on  death,  to 
emphasize  the  need  of  his  book: 

But  many  Shapes 
Of  Death,  and  many  are  the  Ways  that  lead 
To  his  grim  Cave,  all  dismal,  yet  to  Sense 
More  horrible  at  th'  Entrance  than  within. 
Some,  as  thou  saw'st,  by  violent  Strokes  shall  dye, 
By  Fire,  Blood,  and  Famine,  by  Intemperance  more 
In  Meats  and  Drinks,  which  on  the  Earth  shall  bring 
Diseases  dire. 

Paradise  Lost,  Bk.  XI. 

High  argument  for  the  Poor  Planter's  Physician; 
fortunately  for  our  purpose,  too,  it  establishes 
Parks 's  familiarity  with  Milton,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  community.  No  doubt  he  had  copies  of  Paradise 
Lost  for  sale  at  this  time.  His  advertisements  do 
not  show  it,  however,  probably  for  the  reason  that 
he  was  more  interested  in  noting  recent  publications 
in  the  Gazette. 

After  August  2,  1734,  there  is  no  extant  number 
of  the  Gazette  until  May  10,  1745.  Eleven  years  had 
made  a  great  difference  in  most  colonial  newspapers. 
Political  and  economical  discussions  had  become 
ever  more  absorbing  and  more  pressing.    News  was 

*«In  The  Maryland  Gazette,  No.  73,  August  2,  1734. 

47  i  i  Prescribing  Plain  and  easy  Means  for  Persons  to  cure  themselves 
of  all,  or  most  of  the  Distempers,  incident  to  this  Climate  and  with 
very  little  Charge,  the  Medicines  being  chiefly  of  the  Growth  and 
Production  of  this  Country. ' '     Ibid. 


174    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

more  accessible,  and  intercommunication  more  fre- 
quent. Current  English  magazines  supplied  an  in- 
exhaustible fund  if  all  else  failed,  so  that  it  gradu- 
ally became  unnecessary  to  recur  to  the  classical 
essayist  in  the  dull  season.  Above  all,  the  first 
American  monthlies  had  begun  to  draw  out  the 
native  talent.  Young  scribblers  would  naturally 
send  their  verses  to  The  American  Magazine  and 
Historical  Clironicle^^  if  they  were  conveniently  near 
Boston.  That  other  periodicals  of  the  same  sort  (in 
addition  to  the  early  Philadelphia  magazines)  were 
projected,  at  least,  before  1750,  is  evident  from  one 
of  the  most  interesting  contributions  to  the  later 
numbers  of  The  Maryland  Gazette. 

A  correspondent  calling  himself  Philo-Musus  sent 
some  lines^^  which  he  had  intended  for  The  Amer- 
ican Magazine  several  months  previous, — but  since 
that  design  was  now  at  an  end,^^  he  enclosed  the 
verses  to  Mr.  Green.  Thus  we  have  good  evidence 
of  the  American  origin  of  the  verses  of  Philo-Musus, 
which  represent  an  outburst  of  indignation  at  Colley 
Gibber's  well-known  epitaph  on  Pope,  published 
in  The  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  June,  1744. 

Gibber's  epitaph  began  with  these  two  couplets: 

Our  pious  Praise  on  Tomb-Stones  runs  so  high, 
Readers  might  think,  that  none  but  Good  Men  die ! 
If  Graves  held  only  such,  Pope,  like  his  Verse, 
Had  still  been  breathing,  and  escap  'd  the  Hearse. 

"^Established  in  Boston,  in  1743. 

*®See  The  Maryland  Gazette,  November  8,  1745,  No.  3  of  a  new 
series  begun  by  Jonas  Green,  postmaster^  *'at  his  Printing-Offiee  in 
Charles-Street. ' ' 

^^  Not  The  American  Magazine  and  Historical  Chronicle,  for  that 
was  continued  through  1746.  The  American  Magazine  referred  to  was 
probably  only  a  project. 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  I  75 

The  remainder  of  the  epitaph  was  equally  compli- 
mentary. Philo-Musus,  after  a  few  spirited  re- 
marks, answers  the  epitaph  in  no  mean  couplets  of 
his  own.  ''Anyone  the  least  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Pope's  moral  Character/'  says  Philo-Musus,  "will 
at  first  Sight  see  the  barefaced  Injustice  of  it,  that  it 
is  evidently  the  Effects  of  an  impotent  Malice, 
exerted  in  the  most  ungenerous  Manner,  which 
nothing  less  than  a  Cibberian  Front  could  have  had 
the  Assurance  to  brazen  out. — A  grateful  Regard  for 
our  English  Homer's  Memory,  occasioned  this,  as 
well  as  what  follows:" 

Verses  occasioned  by  Mr.  Colley  Cihber's  Epitaph 

on  Mr.  Pope,  in  The  Gentleman' s  Magazine 

for  June  J  1744 

What  Rake  now  doubts  he  has  a  Soul  to  save, 
When  graceless  Colley  preaches  o'er  a  Grave? 
Pope 's  Verse  he  could  not  damn,  in  Part  or  Whole ; 
But,  like  a  hot-brain 'd  Bigot — damns  his  Soul; 
To  shew  this  Age  (the  next  shall  never  know  it) 
He  was  as  good  a  Christian — as  a  Poet. 
Wretch !  do  'st  thou  triumph  o  'er  that  sacred  Urn, 
Where  all  the  Virtuous,  all  the  Learned  mourn? 
Yet  must  thou  live  ?     Late  Times  shall  know,  that  once 
An  English  Laureat  was  a  sprightly  Dunce. 
Ungrateful  I\Ionster !  thank  those  lasting  Strains, 
That  save  your  Carcass,  tho'  it  be  in  Chains. 
Let  thy  vile  Muse  take  its  low  grov'ling  Flight, 
And  scream  or  gabble  to  the  Sons  of  Night ; 
Or  fawning,  sooth  some  Lord's  polluted  Ear 
With  smutty  Jest  or  irreligious  Sneer; 
Whilst  all  the  Good  and  Just, — an  awful  Throng, 
Lament  the  Muse  who  moraliz'd  his  Song. 


176    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

Here  is  evidence  of  a  fairly  close,  perfectly  con- 
temporary knowledge  and  imitation  of  English 
literary  form.  Philo-musus,  whoever  he  may  have 
been,  knew  even  the  current  literary  gossip  of  Lon- 
don ;  while  his  close  study  of  the  Dunciad  appears  in 
every  line  of  his  own  verse.  On  the  whole,  one 
begins  to  suspect  that  many  Americans  were  eager 
to  read,  to  criticise,  and  to  imitate  the  English 
literature  of  their  own  day. 

Sometimes  it  happened  that  an  event  of  great 
literary  interest  was  not  treated  as  such,  but  passed 
over  lightly  as  a  matter  of  political  news.  Usually, 
however,  this  would  occur  only  when  English  papers 
had  been  equally  blind.  The  letters,  messages  and 
addresses  from  the  Hague  in  connection  with  Ches- 
terfield's recall  from  his  diplomatic  mission  there, 
furnish  a  significant  case  in  point.  They  are  all 
given  in  full,  from  the  letter  of  their  High  Mighti- 
nesses to  the  ^'King  of  Great  Britain''  expressing 
their  regret  at  his  recall,  to  Chesterfield's  own 
graceful  and  even  tender  address  of  farewell  to  the 
Deputies  of  the  States  General  f^  yet  neither  the  Vir- 
ginia nor  the  Maryland  paper^^  put  forward  these 
items  as  literary.  They  were  giving  the  political 
news  of  a  great  diplomat  and  statesman.  But  that 
is  exactly  what  the  English  papers  were  doing. 
Chesterfield,  in  fact,  was  known  in  1745  chiefly  as  an 
English  peer  who  patronized  letters.  His  own  liter- 
ary fame  was  a  matter  of  much  later  date,  due  to  his 

"^See  The  Maryland  Gazette,  Nos.  19  and  20,  August  30  and  Sep- 
tember 6,  1745. 

"  The  Maryland  Gazette  took  many  of  its  London  items  from  The 
Virginia  Gazette. 


THE    MARYLAND    GAZETTE  177 

private  correspondence.  Some  inkling  of  his  grace 
and  charm  his  own  immediate  contemporaries,  even 
in  the  colonies,  must  have  had,  nevertheless,  for 
the  little  poem  called  Contradiction,  appearing  in 
The  Maryland  Gazette  March  11, 1746,  proclaims  the 
great  anomaly  of  all, 

When  Chesterfield  shall  write  or  speak  amiss. 

Of  course  the  older  fashion  of  commonplace  essays 
on  pride,  envj,  malice  and  so  forth,  by  no  means 
entirely  died  out.  Nor  did  elaborate  quotations  and 
extracts  from  Addison  and  Pope  ever  fail  of  their 
authority.  Sometimes  the  quotations  were  ami:hing 
but  apt  in  themselves.  In  the  Gazette  for  April  13, 
1748,  Britannus  complains  that  certain  recent  papers 
have  used  Addison  and  Pope  foolishly,  quoting  them 
in  the  discussion  of  district  courts!  These  are  the 
exceptions,  however.  A  current  article  on  Turkey 
or  a  poem  on  the  capture  of  Cape  Breton,  from  The 
Gentleman's  Magazme,  even  an  essay  from  Boston's 
new  American  miscellany,  Polly  Baker's  famous 
speech,  from  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  English 
character  pieces  coming  by  way  of  the  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina  weeklies, — all  these  are  character- 
istic of  the  later  Maryland  Gazette.  So  common  had 
intercommunication  between  the  colonies  become, 
that  we  even  find  an  amusing  dispute  between  the 
Gazette  and  The  Neiv  York  Weekly  Post  Boy  sus- 
tained several  weeks,  in  the  fall  of  1746.  Tom  Tyj)e 
in  the  Post  Boy  accused  Maryland  of  Catholic 
sympathies,  because  she  did  not  contribute  to 
the   Cape  Breton   expedition.      Timothy   Antitype 

13 


178    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

promptly  answered  in  The  Maryland  Gazette  that 
poverty  was  the  only  cause  of  Maryland's  failure. 
If  you  are  poor,  retorted  Thomas  Type,  it  is  because 
your  staple  is  not  properly  regulated ! 

Scattering  as  our  examination  of  The  Maryland 
Gazette  has  necessarily  been,  the  extant  numbers 
jdeld  no  small  results.  The  periodical  essay  in  an 
advanced  form,  much  tolerable  verse  in  direct  imita- 
tion of  current  English  forms,  a  great  regard  for 
Pope  and  Addison, — Milton  as  well — are  all  strik- 
ingly evident  in  its  fragmentary  pages. 


CHAPTEE  VII 

The  Virginia  Gazette 

As  we  turn  soutliward  to  the  heart  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  we  enter  a  society  whose  interest  in  pure 
letters  was  more  natural,  more  permanent,  and  more 
unrestricted  than  that  of  any  other  section  of  British 
America.  Not  so  enterprising,  perhaps;  we  hear 
of  no  brilliant  young  apprentices  doing  without 
luncheon  to  read,  or  busily  planning  new  projects 
for  the  general  culture  of  the  community.  The  Vir- 
ginian took  all  these  things  easily  and  gracefully  as 
Ms  birthright.  Col.  Henry  Fitzhugh,  for  instance, 
whose  father  left  him  a  study  full  of  books  in  his 
will  of  1700,1  had  no  particular  reason  to  be  ardently 
interested  in  a  subscription  library.  When  we  re- 
member, too,  that  he  was  matriculated  at  Christ 
Church,  Oxford,  in  1722,  the  situation  becomes  even 
clearer.  Not  only  did  the  custom  of  educating  sons 
at  Oxford  or  Cambridge  linger  in  Virginia,  but 
native  boys  who  went  to  William  and  Mary  often 
met  there  professors  who  had  been  trained  abroad, 
or  had  lived  abroad.  Literary  London  was  far 
nearer  Williamsburg  than  Boston. 

Books  of  a  secular  nature  could  have  been  found 
in  the  ordinary  Virginia  household.    The  interesting 

^Eecorded  in  the  Stafford  County  Eecords,  dated  1700;  see  The 
Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  Vol.  II,  pp.  277 :  "  My 
Study  of  Books  (I  leave)  to  William  and  Henry." 

179 


180    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

researches  of  President  Lyon  Gardiner  Tyler,  of 
William  and  Mary  College,  and  Mr.  William  G. 
Stanard,  of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society,  have 
unearthed  from  the  old  county  records  of  wills  and 
inventories  of  estates,  valuable  evidence  of  such 
volumes  even  in  comparatively  poor  families.^ 
Christopher  Eobinson  of  Urbanna,  whose  estate 
netted  only  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds, 
had,  according  to  the  inventory  of  March  28,  1727,^ 
sixteen  books,  and  in  another  item  "a  parcell  of  old 
books. '  ^  Frequently  the  expressions  *  ^  all  my  books ' ' 
and  ''books,  per  a  catalogue''  in  wills  and  inven- 
tories indicate  libraries  of  no  small  size.  As  early 
as  1669,  Col.  John  Carter  divided,  by  will,  his  library, 
which  he  described  as  "all  my  books,"  between  his 
sons;  ''son  John"  to  have  five-sixths,  "son  Robert," 
one  sixth,  and  his  wife,  as  a  special  bequest,  David's 
Tears,  Byfield's  treatise,  and  the  Whole  Duty  of 
Man.^  Robert  Beverley's  books,  recorded  in  the  in- 
ventory of  his  estate,  in  1734,^  included  not  only  an 
ample  classical  and  religious  library,  but  also  vol- 
umes of  Locke,  Temple,  Bacon,  Shaftsbury,  Claren- 
don, Spectators  (8  vols.),  Tatlers  (4  vols.),  Ambrose 
Phillips,  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  Garth's  Dispen- 
sary, Pope's  Homer,  Pope's  other  poems,  Hudibras, 
Pomfret's  poems,  More's  Utopia,  Aesop's  Fables, 
a  volume  of  tragedies,  and  The  Beggar's  Opera. 

^  This  evidence  has  been  published  in  many  volumes  of  The  Vir- 
ginia Magazine  of  History  and  Biography. 

'  See  The  Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  4. 

nbid.,  Vol.  II,  p.  235. 

^  In  the  Spotsylvania  County  Court  records.  See  The  Virginia 
Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  388-391. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  181 

After  the  Eestoration,  plays,  balls  and  pastorals 
enlivened  the  town  life  in  old  Williamsburg.  As 
President  Tyler  has  shown,  in  his  book  on 
Williamsburg,^  the  first  recorded  notice  of  a 
play"^  performed  in  any  part  of  the  present  United 
States  is  in  the  Accomack  County^  records  for  1665. 
Several  persons  had  been  brought  before  the  court 
for  acting  a  play  called  Ye  Bare  and  Ye  Cuhh,  and 
this  old  record  explains  that  they  were  obliged  to 
enact  it  over  again,  in  costume,  before  the  court. 
The  result  was  exactly  what  might  have  been  ex- 
pected in  a  liberal  community.  The  play  was  judged 
innocuous,  the  players  were  discharged,  and  the  in- 
formant had  to  pay  the  costs !  This  was  in  the  days 
of  Sir  William  Berkeley's  administration.  Though 
his  name  hardly  suggests  liberality  of  any  sort,  he 
was  in  his  own  way  a  patron  of  art,  especially  dra- 
matic art.  His  fondness  for  the  stage  was  well 
known,  and  when  he  visited  London  for  a  year^  he 
saw  his  own  tragi-comedy.  The  Lost  Lady,  acted  at 
the  theater.  The  indefatigable  Pepys  saw  it  also, 
and  has  recorded  his  own  rather  unfavorable  im- 
pression of  the  play,  as  well  as  his  later  moderate 
liking.i^  Thus  Sir  William,  with  the  plaudits  of 
London  playhouses  in  his  ears,  could  hardly  have 
failed  to  encourage  the  drama  in  Virginia,  at  least 
when  his  all  too  vigorous  colony  allowed  him  enough 

"  Williamsburg,  the  Old  Colonial  Capital.  By  Lyon  Gardiner  Tyler, 
LL.D.,  President  of  the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  Williamsburg, 
Virginia.     Whittet  and  Shepperson,  publishers. 

'  So  far  as  known  at  present. 

*  Accomack  County,  Virginia. 

»In  1661. 

1"  See  Diary,  January  19  and  28,  1661. 


182    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

peace  to  do  so.  Certainly  the  custom  grew  up  of 
performing  a  play  before  the  Governor  on  the  King's 
birthday,  and  other  festivals.^  ^  The  actors  in  these 
comedies  or  pastorals  were  often  "scholars  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College.  "^^ 

After  1716  one  could  have  seen  professional  actors 
in  a  public  theater  in  Williamsburg.  A  local  mer- 
chant, William  Levingston,  built  a  theater^^  for 
Charles  and  Mary  Stagg,  actors,  who  were  to  man- 
age a  company  from  England.  Levingston  distinctly 
agreed  to  provide  actors,  scenery  and  music  out  of 
England,  "for  the  enacting  of  comedies  and  trage- 
dies in  said  city''  of  Williamsburg.  While  he  was 
about  it  he  built  a  bowling  alley  alongside,  so  that 
when,  a  few  years  later,^*  Eev.  Hugh  Jones  described 
Williamsburg,  he  noted,  evidently  with  pride  that 
"not  far  from  hence,  (i.  e,  from  the  church  and  the 
court  house)  is  a  large  area  for  a  market-place,  near 
which  is  a  playhouse  and  a  good  bowling  green." 
After  Stagg  died,  his  wife  held  dancing  "assem- 
blies," otherwise  balls,  earning  her  living  by  her 
moderate  fees. 

Hence  it  is  not  surprising  to  read  in  one  of  the 
first  advertisements  of  The  Virginia  Gazette -^^ 

"  Governor  Spotswood,  for  instance,  recorded  a  play  acted  before 
him  on  His  Majesty's  birthday,  1718.  Apparently  it  was  not  an 
exceptional  or  unusual  celebration. 

"A  ''Pastoral  Colloquy"  was  recited  in  1702  by  ''scholars  of 
William  and  Mary  College,"  before  the  Governor  at  Williamsburg. 

"The  contract  is  recorded  at  Yorktown,  dated  July  11,  1716;  in 
November,  1716,  Levingston  bought  the  land  for  the  theater,  church 
and  the  court  house.     See  Tyler's  Williamsburg,  chapter  VIII. 

"  1722. 

^°  September  10,  1736,  No.  6. 


THE   ^^RGINIA   GAZETTE 


183 


''This  evening  will  be  performed  at  the  Theatre, 
by  the  Young  Gentlemen  of  the  College,  the  Tragedy 
of  Cato;  and  on  Monday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday 
next  will  be  acted  the  following  Comedies  by  the 
Gentlemen  and  Ladies  of  this  Country,  viz.  The 
Busij-Body,  The  Recruiting  Officer,  and  The  Beaux- 
Stratagem/'  A  similar  item  in  the  Gazette  of  the 
following  week^^  adds  to  the  evidence  that  plays 
were  not  uncommon  in  Williamsburg.  "Next  Mon- 
day Night,"  we  read,  ''will  be  performed  The 
Drummer;  or,  The  Haunted  House,  by  the  young 
Gentlemen  of  the  College.'' 

Plays  were  not  uncommon  then,  after  1700.    And 
1700  is  a  conservative  date,  in  view  of  Sir  William 
Berkeley's  fondness  for  plays.    But  after  1750  there 
were     regular     professional     engagements     every 
winter,    extending    even    to    Norfolk,    Petersburg, 
Hobbes'  Hole  and  Fredericksburg.    With  these  per- 
formances, interesting  as  they  are,  we  have  little  to 
do,  except  to  remark  in  passing  that  Richard  III, 
'  The  Merchant  of  Venice  and  Othello  opened  seasons 
of  considerable  prestige  in  1751  and  1752.    In  one 
particular,  tradition  has  been  at  fault.     ''On  the 
first  Friday  in  September,  1752,"  says  President 
Tyler,!^  "they  opened  the  season  with  The  Merchant 
of  Venice.     The  prologue,^^  spoken  by  Mr.  Rigby,  is 
said  to  have  been  the  first  ever  spoken  in  America, 
and  was  composed  on  shipboard  by  Mr.  Singleton, 
another  of  the  company."      But   seventeen  years 

"  September  17,  1736,  No.  7. 

"  See  Williamslurg,  the  Old  Colonial  Capital,  p.  229. 
i»  Given  in  full  in  William  and  Mary  College  Quarterly,  Vol.  XIII, 
p.  9. 


184    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

before,  a  prologue  had  been  composed  in  Charleston, 
and  spoken  there  at  a  presentation  of  Otway^s 
Orphan,  January  24,  1735.  The  fact  that  the  first 
prologue  does  not  belong  to  Virginia,  however,  de- 
tracts little  from  her  well-earned  place  as  the  first 
seat  of  the  drama  in  America. 

For  the  earlier  records  of  that  drama  we  are 
obliged  to  depend  largely  upon  chance  notices  in 
diaries  or  letters,  deeds  of  sale  or  other  court  docu- 
ments. Interesting  indeed  it  would  be  if  we  had 
newspaper  advertisements  of  plays  to  guide  us  all 
the  way.  Virginia,  so  brilliantly  in  advance  of  her 
neighbors  in  the  arts  and  graces  of  life,  had  no  news- 
paper until  1736,  nine  years  after  the  first  paper  in 
Maryland,  seven  years  after  the  first  in  New  York, 
seventeen  after  the  first  in  Pennsylvania,  twenty- 
two  after  the  first  in  Massachusetts,  and  nearly  ^ve 
years  after  the  first  in  South  Carolina.  Various 
reasons  have  been  assigned  for  this  long-continued 
lack  in  Virginia.  For  one  thing,  there  were  the  very 
practical  difficulties  in  securing  a  license,  since  an 
early,  short-lived  experience  with  the  printing  press 
had  taught  the  authorities  its  danger.  For  another 
thing,  the  very  fact  that  the  Virginia  planter  kept 
in  close  touch  with  London  and  Oxford  affairs  made 
it  easier  and  more  natural  for  him  to  send  for  Eng- 
lish papers,  than  to  promote  a  native  enterprise. 
Town  business,  too,  had  no  great  hold  upon  his  inter- 
est. At  length  the  initiative  came  from  an  outsider, 
when  William  Parks  set  up  his  little  shop  and 
printing  press  in  the  small  wooden  building  on  Duke 
of  Gloucester  street  which  was  standing  until  1896. 


THE    VIKGINIA    GAZETTE  185 

The  post-office  and  book  store,  as  usual,  were  com- 
bined with  the  printing  office. 

The  bearing  of  this  somewhat  long  introduction  to 
The  Virginia  Gazette  will  be  seen  at  once  on  turning 
to  its  first  pages.  The  earlier  numbers  of  the  paper 
all  devote  a  large  part  of  the  first  page  to  an  essay- 
serial  called  The  Monitor.  It  is  sprightly,  witty, 
dramatic  in  method,  full  of  the  opera,  the  theater, 
tea-table  gossip,  and  slander,  playful  slurs  on  the 
fashions  over  games  of  piquet,  town  beaux  in"tu- 
pee'^  wigs,  and  other  aspects  of  London  life,  to  the 
extent  that  the  whole  series  has  hitherto  been  con- 
sidered merely  a  colonial  reprint  of  an  English  per- 
iodical. But  these  papers  have  never  been  really 
examined,  and  an  analysis  of  them  in  the  light  of  the 
ordinary  social  regime  in  Williamsburg  at  thatdate^^ 
leads  to  a  conclusion  in  favor  of  their  Virginian 
origin.  Indeed  proof  would  hardly  be  too  strong  a 
word,  except  for  a  barely  possible  chance  that  Parks 
may  have  tinkered  over  some  unknown  English 
weekly. 

Tradition  is  silent  as  to  the  existence  of  a  Monitor 
in  London,  in  1736.  The  name  itself  is  not  uncom- 
mon. Anonymous  letters  often  had  signatures  like 
The  Seasonable  MonitorJ^^  There  seems  to  have 
been  also  a  periodical  called  The  Silent  Monitor 
fifteen  or  twenty  years  previous,  but  as  it  is  not 
extant,   no    conclusions    can   be    drawn   from   it.^^ 

"  1736-37. 

^  Such  was  the  signature  of  a  political  letter  in  the  Craftsman, 
No.  541,  November  13,  1736. 

"Defoe's  political  paper,  The  Monitor,  of  1714,  (attribution  of 
Professor  Trent),  could  have  had  no  influence  on  these  essays. 


186    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL,  NEWSPAPERS 

Moreover,  it  is  intrinsically  very  unlikely  that  this 
unknown  paper  furnished  any  hints  for  the  Virginia 
Monitor,  or  that  Parks  would  have  possessed  a  com- 
plete file  to  use  serially  week  by  week.  Indeed,  this 
last  consideration  is  one  of  the  cardinal  points  in 
favor  of  a  colonial  origin.  Stray  papers  could  be 
copied,  and  often  were  taken  bodily  into  colonial 
weeklies.  But  that  a  whole  file  of  a  periodical  so 
abreast  with  contemporary  modes  of  essay  writing 
could  have  reached  the  office  of  the  Gazette  in  time 
for  publication  through  the  fall  and  winter  of  1736 
is  incredible.  For  another  thing.  The  Monitor  will 
bear  comparison  with  The  Universal  Spectator,  The 
Craftsman,  The  Gruhstreet  Journal,  Common  Sense, 
the  best,  in  short,  of  the  English  weeklies  in  that 
decade.  Therefore,  it  is  again  incredible  that  never 
once  from  1731  to  1737  should  it  be  mentioned,  in- 
serted, or  quoted  from  in  the  two  great  rival  monthly 
magazines.  The  London  Magazine  and  The  Gentle- 
man's Magazine.  One  of  them  surely  would  have 
used  it,  if  only  to  surprise  the  other.  Most  notable 
articles  in  the  weeklies  found  their  way  into  the 
monthly  magazines ;  often  an  almost  complete  series 
may  be  followed  in  them.  The  very  excellent  files 
of  both  monthlies  in  this  country^^  Jiave  been 
searched.  There  is  no  hint  of  The  Monitor.  But 
how  natural  if  it  was  written  three  thousand  miles 
away,  in  a  country  suggesting  convicts  to  many 
Londoners ! 

In  fact  the  matter  is  practically  ruled  out  of  court 

"  For  example,  the  files  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  Virginia  State 
Library,  Columbia  University  Library,  New  York  and  Boston  Public 
Libraries. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  187 

by  the  references  to  James  River,^^  York  River,^^ 
^Hhis  colony/'-^  ^Hhe  first  ship  in  York  River, "^^ 
^'my  first  coming  into  these  Parts ''^^  (when  inhabi- 
tants were  few),  and  other  external  indications. 
After  the  eighteenth  number  of  The  Monitor  had 
appeared,  Zoilus,  an  unknown  critic,  attacked  it 
mercilessly  in  the  columns  of  the  Gazette.  Now  it 
is  inconceivable  that  Parks  imported  both  the  peri- 
odical and  the  running  commentaries  of  its  critic. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  Zoilus  represents  the  ^'home 
talent,'^  he  would  hardly  be  as  contemptuous  toward 
a  known  English  paper.  The  Monitor  is  beyond  all 
reasonable  doubt  a  Virginian  performance,  adding 
no  small  prestige  to  our  colonial  literature. 

Important  confirmation  of  all  this  could  be  found, 
perhaps,  in  the  first  ^yq  numbers  of  The  Monitor 
not  now  extant.  The  Virginia  Historical  Society  ^s 
file  begins  with  number  six.^^  There  we  first  meet 
the  Monitor  himself,  lolling  in  his  elbow-chair,  con- 
triving some  method  to  give  fair  Letitia  Tattle  a 
view  of  his  long  nose.  While  he  is  absorbed  in  such 
pleasing  meditation,  three  taps  at  the  door  of  his 
outward  chamber  announce  the  arrival  of  a  figure 
which  scares  his  man  Dominic  into  believing  he  has 
seen  the  De\dl.  Upwards  of  six  feet  tall,  with  a 
swarthy  complexion,  and  ^^a  large  Bottle-Nose,"  the 
mysterious  figure   advances.     ^'The   Dress   was   a 

^  See  Monitor  No.  14,  Virginia  Gazette,  November  19,  1736. 

« Ibid. 

"  Ibid.,  No.  17,  December  31,  1736. 

« Ibid. 

""  Ibid.,  No.  18,  January  21,  1736-37. 

®  See  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  6,  September  10,  1736. 


188    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Man's  Hat,  a  Woman's  short  Cloak,  that  hung  loose 
down  to  the  Waste.  .  .  .  From  the  Waste  down- 
wards, was  a  large  Pair  of  Trowsers  fit  for  a 
Burgher-Master."^^  In  this  combination  of  riding- 
habit  and  harem  skirt,  she  informs  the  Monitor  that 
she  is  a  woman  of  fashion!  ^'I  was  born  and  bred 
in  France,  and  the  dress  you  see  me  in,  was  French, 
originally,  but  now  modeliz'd. " 

The  Monitor,  somewhat  disgusted  at  this  harangue, 
bids  her  be  brief,  as  he  is  busy.  She  immediately 
proceeds  to  recommend  her  six  daughters  for  posts 
on  the  monitorial  staff.  ^'There's  my  eldest  Daugh- 
ter, Miss  Leer,  .  .  .  will  draw  a  Circle  about  her 
immediate!}^  wherever  she  goes.  .  .  .  Then  my  sec- 
ond. Miss  Sly;  she  has  not  one  bit  of  French  in  her, 
she's  as  Secret  as  Death.  .  .  .  My  third  Daughter, 
Miss  Fidget;  she's  here,  and  there,  and  everywhere; 
she  never  misses  a  Tea-Table,  if  there  be  Ten  within 
Compass  of  her  Visits  in  a  Day.  There  she  hears 
Slander,  Backbiting  and  Scandal,  which  may  turn 
out  to  some  use.  As  to  my  Fourth  Daughter,  Amo- 
ret,  she's  a  Fine  Girl."  So  the  description  goes  on. 
Phillis, number  five, is  ''forever  receiving  or  answer- 
ing of  Billet-doux,  and  Scraps  of  Poetry  which  may 
not  be  amiss. ' '  Euphemia,  the  youngest,  is  * '  courted 
by  Sir  Politick  Wou'd-be;  he  can  inform  her  how 
Affairs  stand  in  .  .  .  (but  no  matter.)  "  The  Moni- 
tor finally  engages  these  promising  young  reporters, 
after  administering  to  them  the  oath  of  the  Free 
Masons  with  bolted  doors ! 

Now  of  course  the  unknown  author  of  these  essays 

"  An  undoubted  slur  on  the  Dutch  influence. 


THE    VIKGINIA    GAZETTE  189 

did  not  in  any  case  originate  the  conception  of  a  fair 
bevy  of  news-gatherers  presiding  over  different  de- 
partments of  high  society.  The  idea  had  been  a 
favorite  one  in  the  essay-periodicals  for  several 
years  previous.  It  was  more  dramatic  than  the  older 
Spectator  letter,  for  the  ladies  generally  made  their 
report  to  the  editor  in  the  form  of  sustained  witty 
dialogue  rather  than  grave  disquisition.  The  editor 
then  adds  moral  reflections  much  in  Addison's  gen- 
eral manner.  Now  and  then  dialogue  in  these  later 
periodicals  rises  to  high  comedy  level  for  a  passage 
or  two.  Always  it  is  the  vehicle  for  light,  social 
satire  chiefly  directed  to  women,  though  the  beaux 
in  ''tupee"  wigs  have  their  share. 

The  Monitor's  club  certainly  had  a  prototype  in 
the  Fiddle-faddle  Club,  the  ladies  of  which  described 
it  to  Mr.  Bavins,  the  lofty  editor  of  The  Gruhstreet 
Journal.^^  The  description  was  copied  into  The 
London  Magazine  for  May,  1733,  and  thus  would 
have  been  easy  to  procure  in  Virginia.  Seven  ladies 
made  up  the  Fiddle-faddle  Club,  Lady  Tiptoe,  Lady 
Fanciful,  Lady  Lazy,  who  '^  often  borrows  a  Hand 
to  stir  her  Tea,"  Caecilia  Thoughtless,  Miss  Love- 
Mode,  Miss  At-all,  and  Coquetilla.  They  met  regu- 
larly twice  a  week  to  settle  the  fashions,  and  discuss 
beaux  in  general  and  in  particular. 

A  little  too  late  to  serve  as  model  for  The  Monitor, 
yet  significant  as  showing  the  contemporary  popu- 
larity of  the  main  conception  was  Ned  Friendly 's 
letter  to  The  Craftsman,  Of  News  Writers,^^  calling 

""See  Gruhstreet  Journal,  No.  176,  May  10,  1733. 
"  See  The  Craftsman,  No.  546,  December  18,  1736.     Also  copied 
into  The  London  Magazine  for  December,  1736. 


190    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

attention  to  a  club  of  merry  ladies.  ''I  am  likewise 
apprized  that  there  is  a  club  of  merry  Ladies,  in 
this  Town,  who  make  it  their  Business  to  surprize 
the  World  with  extraordinary  Pieces  of  Intelligence. 
They  meet,  it  seems,  once  a  Week;  every  Lady 
brings  in  her  Story,  and  that  which  is  the  farthest 
removed  from  Truth,  and  yet  most  likely  to  pass  as 
such,  is  voted  the  current  Article  of  the  Week.  The 
fair  Author  is  immediately  ordered  to  take  the 
Chair,  and  the  whole  Society  are  obliged,  by  the 
Eules  of  the  Club,  to  circulate  it  amongst  their  par- 
ticular Acquaintance.  The  common  Collectors  of 
News  are  apt  to  catch  a  little  too  greedily  at  such 
ingenious  Eeports ;  and  thus  they  become  generally 
believed;  till  the  Club  meets  again,  and  propagates 
some  other  Eumour,  in  the  same  Manner. '^ 

A  still  more  interesting  coincidence  lies  in  the 
resemblance  between  The  Monitor's  general  plan 
and  the  plan  of  Sheridan  and  Swift's  Intelligencer, 
We  have  the  best  of  proof  that  Parks  and  his  corre- 
spondents in  Maryland  and  Virginia  knew  this  little 
Dublin  pamphlet.^^  Swift  himself  wrote  the  first 
number,  which  outlines  a  program  not  indeed  so 
near  in  detail  to  The  Monitor's  as  that  of  the  Fiddle- 
faddle  Club,  but  sufficiently  close  to  have  afforded 
many  hints  and  suggestions.  We  are,  therefore, 
probably  on  the  track  of  Swift's  direct  influence 
here.  ^^ There  is  a  society  lately  established,"  he 
says,  in  The  Intelligencer,  ^'who,  at  great  expense, 
have  erected  an  office  of  intelligence,  from  which 

^  Vide  supra,  p.  164.     Of  this  no  doubt  Parks  had  a  more  or  less 
complete  file. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  191 

they  are  to  receive  weekly  information  of  all  impor- 
tant events  and  singularities  which  this  famous 
metropolis  can  furnish.  Strict  injunctions  are  given 
to  have  the  truest  information;  in  order  to  which, 
certain  qualified  persons  are  employed  to  attend 
upon  duty  at  their  several  posts;  some  at  the  play- 
house, others  in  churches ;  some  at  balls,  assemblies, 
coffee-houses,  and  meetings  for  quadrille;  some  at 
the  several  courts  of  justice,  both  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral ;  some  at  the  college,  some  upon  my  lord  mayor 
and  aldermen  in  their  public  affairs,  .  .  .  only  the 
barracks  and  parliament-houses  are  excepted,  be- 
cause we  have  yet  found  no  enfant  perdus  bold 
enough  to  venture  their  persons  at  either.  Out  of 
these  and  some  other  store-houses  we  hope  to  gather 
materials  enough  to  inform,  or  direct,  or  correct,  or 
vex  the  town.''  No  Swiftian  touches  like  these  last 
two  sentences  will  be  found  in  The  Monitor,  In- 
deed the  resemblance  would  hardly  be  worth  noting, 
were  it  not  that  The  Intelligencer  was  read  in  Vir- 
ginia. Countless  instances  of  the  same  reporting 
plan  could  be  cited  in  the  periodicals  from  1728  to 
1740,  including  Fielding's  Chamipion,^^  where  Cap- 
tain Hercules  Vinegar  and  his  family  contribute 
the  news. 

The  eighteenth-century  dread  of  masculinity  in 
women  was  no  less  than  that  of  our  own  days.  We 
have  seen  how  the  Monitor's  man  Dominic  thought 
he  had  seen  a  devil  when  that  monstrous  creature,  a 
Woman  of  Fashion,  walked  in  with  her  man's  hat 

"  TTie  Champion.  Published  three  times  a  week  from  November 
15,  1739,  to  June  19,  1740,  94  numbers  in  all.  This  was  too  late,  of 
course,  to  affect  The  Monitor. 


192    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

and  huge  trousers.  The  Universal  Spectator  had 
voiced  an  equal  horror  four  years  before^^  in  a 
clever  censure  on  the  ladies,  signed  H.  Bluntly. 
This,  too,  had  been  copied  into  The  London  Maga- 
zine for  July,  1732,  so  it  could  easily  have  been  seen 
in  Williamsburg.  The  Universal  Spectator  ranks 
as  one  of  the  cleverest  periodicals  of  the  period.  It 
was  founded  by  Defoe's  son-in-law,  Henry  Baker,  in 
1728,  and  usually  succeeded  fairly  well  in  living  up 
to  its  illustrious  name.  Bluntly 's  article  is  dra- 
matic and  forcible.  English  ladies  ''this  Summer 
intended  to  ride  astride, '^  he  says,  ''at  the  instiga- 
tion of  'des  Dames  Francoises,'  but  for  political 
reasons  have  not.  ...  In  return  the  English  Ama- 
zons have  introduced  Romping  among  the  French, 
and  advise  the  Dutch  ladies  to  the  thorough  neglect 
of  Family  affairs.  In  Days  of  Yore,  for  a  Lady  to 
be  dress 'd  like  a  Woman,  to  speak  and  act  like  a 
Woman,  was  thought  decent;  but  now  the  Case  is 
much  alter  'd.  .  .  .  I  went  once  to  visit  Stradella,  and 
found  her  .  .  .  with  her  Hands  behind  her,  whistling 
and  trying  in  how  many  Paces  she  could  measure 
the  Room.  She  turn'd  upon  her  Heel,  and  extend- 
ing her  Right  Hand,  gave  me  a  friendly  Shake,  and 
saluted  me  with  'How  do'st  old  Hal?'  "  He  be- 
moans the  loss  of  reserve  among  the  fair  ones.  Mr. 
Maidly  and  Bob  Brawny  have  been  proposed  to. 
"Is  it  not,  dear  Spec,  a  melancholy  reflection  that 
(the  members  of  the  opposite  sex  are)  women  at 
twelve,  men  at  eighteen,  and  girls  at  fifty  or  sixty?" 
So  we  see  that  there  were  plenty  of  clever  sources 

^  No.  197,  July  15,  1732. 


THE   VIKGINIA   GAZETTE  193 

from  which  The  Monitor  could  have  received  impor- 
tant hints.  Probably  a  comparatively  large  number 
of  people  in  Williamsburg  subscribed  to  The  London 
Magazine.  Beyond  a  doubt,  Parks  had  it  in  his 
office  regularly. 

The  next  number  of  The  Monitor^^  explains  more 
fully  that  the  ladies  are  to  report  every  week  in  Ee- 
marks,  Letters,  Poems,  Billet-doux — what  not.  The 
restless  Miss  Fidget  naturally  enters  first.  ^^Miss 
Fidget  with  abundance  of  Briskness  and  Alacrity, 
told  me  that  if  my  Monitorial  Worship  was  at  Leis- 
ure, she  would  lay  before  me  a  very  notorious  Ee- 
mark  which  she  had  made  upon  her  Sister  Females, 
since  she  had  engaged  herself  in  my  Service.'^ 
Again  the  fashions,  this  time  in  the  more  feminine 
guise  of  hoops  and  high  shoulder  effects.  Helena 
gives  the  remark  of  a  lady  who  exclaims  in  conversa- 
tion with  her,  ^'Pray,  Madam,  did  you  observe  Miss 
Airy  in  Company  last  Sunday?  Lord!  Lord!  what 
a  frightful  figure  she  made.''  The  Monitor's  re- 
flections at  the  close  of  Miss  Fidget's  remarks  en- 
dorse her  criticisms  heartily,  adding  a  slur  to  the 
effect  that  very  soon  a  hump-back  will  be  accounted 
no  piece  of  deformity. 

Of  course  the  other  ladies  fretted  a  little  under 
Miss  Fidget's  ^^ Assiduity  to  be  the  first  in  my 
Favor."  They  must  needs  protest  to  the  Monitor,^^ 
Miss  Leer  demanding  first  place  on  the  score  of 
being  eldest,  and  so  on.  At  length  Miss  Fidget  de- 
corously asks  pardon,  says  she  will  stand  corrected 

"No.  7,  September  17,  1736. 
^Monitor  No.  8,  October  1,  1736. 

14 


194    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN  COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

if  she  is  too  forward.  The  matter  is  then  happily 
adjusted  by  a  strict  division  of  labor  among  the  fair 
contestants.  The  Monitor  will  accept  Miss  Leer  as 
*' Sifter,  in  the  Service  of  the  Club,  Miss  Sly,  for 
Observation,  Miss  Fidget,  for  Scandal,  Miss  Amoret, 
for  Discoveries,  Miss  Phillis,  for  Love  Affairs,  and 
Miss  Euphemia,  for  Politics.''  What  an  excellent 
text  for  a  sermon  on  envy  and  jealousy,  is  this  little 
tempest  in  a  tea-pot!  The  Monitor  does  not  lose 
the  opportunity ;  and  again  we  remind  ourselves  that 
the  cleverest,  most  dramatic  themes  in  the  eight- 
eenth-century periodicals  are  never  far  from  the 
moral  treatise.  ^*Si  vis  me  flere,  dolendum  est'' 
closes  the  reflections  on  jealousy. 

We  next^"^  hear  from  the  observant  Arabella  Sly 
on  a  point  of  propriety  in  manners.  She  has  at- 
tended the  theater,  has  seen  The  Beaux-Stratagem, 
and  was  so  ^^ highly  delighted  at  Love's  Catechism" 
that  she  giggled.  At  this  indiscretion  Miss  Tan- 
crede  gave  her  ^'a  most  terrible  Hunch  with  her 
Elbow"  and  warned  her  to  cover  her  face  with  her 
fan.  Arabella  asks  the  Monitor  if  propriety  de- 
mands that  one  should  always  hide  behind  a  fan  at 
a  humorous  scene?  This  leads  to  an  essay  by  the 
Monitor  on  the  folly  of  Prudishness.  ^^  Honest  Jack 
Pamflino  informs  me,"  he  says,  ^^that  in  the  year 
1718,  he  made  his  address  to  a  Prude."  The  court- 
ship was  disastrous.  Now  at  first  sight  it  seems 
highly  improbable  that  Arabella  Sly's  indiscretion 
at  the  theater  could  have  been  inspired  by  anything 
in  Williamsburg.     But  Farquhar's  comedies,   The 

"Monitor  No.  9,  October  15,  1736. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  195 

Beaux-Stratagem  and  The  Recruiting  Officer  had 
been  given  three  weeks  before  at  the  theater  in 
Williamsburg  by  "the  Gentlemen  and  Ladies  of  this 
Country.''  The  coincidence  is  strikingly  significant 
as  an  indication  of  the  Virginian  authorship  of  The 
Monitor. 

The  next  number^^  is  a  rather  dull  vindication  of 
music.  The  young  reporters  are  for  the  moment 
disregarded  while  the  Monitor  listens  to  a  dispute 
among  three  gentlemen  about  the  benefits  of  music. 
He  himself  believes  that  it  is  more  than  mere  pleas- 
use  of  the  ear, — that  it  is  "the  Operation  of  the 
Mind  upon  those  materials  that  gives  the  Delight.'' 
Commonplace  essays  of  this  sort  occur  in  every 
eighteenth-century  periodical ;  they  are  less  frequent 
in  The  Monitor  than  in  many. 

A  "Eeverend  Gentleman"  who  signs  himself  "J" 
now^^  interrupts  with  a  complimentary  letter  to  the 
Monitor,  praising  his  bold  rebukes  of  folly,  and  ad- 
mitting with  gentle  condescension  that  the  press  is 
"a  natural  and  necessary  Auxiliary  to  the  Pulpit." 
Candidly  and  generously  he  says  that  the  subjects 
for  ridicule  are  ' '  even  more  abundant  in  our  Sex, ' ' 
and  invites  him  to  animadvert  more  impartially 
upon  both  sexes,  without  fear  of  any  sort.  "Let 
the  stricken  Deer  go  weep." 

Following  the  letter  from  the  reverend  correspon- 
dent is  a  mock  advertisement  of  Miss  Amoret,  one 
of  the  fair  reporters  of  the  Monitor,  who  indignantly 
calls  upon  the  gallant  in  a  "tupee"  wig  who  ogled 

'^  Monitor  No.  10,  October  22,  1736. 
'nbid.,  No.  11,  October  29,  1736. 


196    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEES 

her  at  the  theater,  to  explain  himself.  ^  ^  This  public 
notice  was  doubtless  a  great  joke  directed  against 
the  town  dude,  whoever  he  was,''  says  President 
Tyler,^^  evidently  not  connecting  the  advertisement 
very  closely  with  The  Monitor.  Nevertheless,  his 
remark  may  very  well  serve  as  one  more  clear  indi- 
cation of  native  talent  at  work  in  the  colony,  as  well 
as  an  illuminating  suggestion  in  itself.  No  doubt 
"Williamsburg  had  a  town  dude  who  haunted  the 
theater  and  flirted  with  fair  dames. 

The  twelfth  Monitor  has  a  lively  letter  from  Zach- 
ary  Downright  on  the  opera.  He  has  been  to  London, 
has  heard  Signora  Cazzoni  and  Signora  Faustina, 
and  would  as  soon  listen  to  his  father  and  mother 
quarrel  in  a  fugue.  He  even  quotes  Hudihras  to 
relieve  his  feelings. 

And  folly  as  it  grows  in  years 
The  more  extravagant  appears. 

He  noted  that  everybody  applauded  at  the  opera, 
though  he  was  convinced  that  they  were  all  as  igno- 
rant of  music  and  Italian  as  he  himself  was.  The 
Monitor  blames  him  for  his  lack  of  appreciation, 
ascribing  it  to  inattentiveness  and  dulness.  Satires 
on  the  absurdly  ignorant  audiences  at  the  opera 
were  very  common  in  English  papers.  It  is  just 
conceivable,  of  course,  that  here  Parks  copied  from 
some  obscure  weekly.  Undoubtedly  Zachary  Down- 
right's  letter  reflects  London  experiences  and  no 
other.  Yet  the  very  fact  that  he  speaks  of  going  to 
London,  combined  with  the  fact  that  going  to  Lon- 
don meant  nothing  extraordinary  to  a  Virginian, 

*"  See  his  book,  Williamsburg,  the  Old  Colonial  Capital,  p.  226. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  197 

points  rather  to  a  colonial  imitation  of  English 
satire.  An  instance  of  this  latter  may  be  found  in 
The  London  Magazine's  Polite  Conversation,  in 
which  one  of  the  ladies  speaks  of  the  Adagio  as  "  so 
quick  and  nimble.  "^^ 

At  length  one  of  the  Monitor  ^s  assistants  comes 
on  the  scene  again.^^  Penelope  Leer,  this  time, 
writes  a  letter  describing  a  certain  Miss  Fain- 
would's  lovers;  a  doctor,  a  lawyer,  and  a  parson. 
Miss  Fainwould  herself  preferred  the  doctor.  Her 
mother  favored  the  lawyer,  who  ''had  promised  to 
recover  an  Estate  that  was  never  in  the  Family.'' 
The  unfortunate  parson  had  long  since  been  dis- 
missed for  his  '411  Habit,  (uncommon  to  the  Pro- 
fession,'') of  reading  too  much.  Evidently  he  took 
his  repulse  to  heart,  for  some  rather  gloomy  verses 
on  the  deceitfulness  of  pleasure  were  found  in  his 
room.  Miss  Leer  transcribes  them,  and  the  Moni- 
tor shakes  his  wise  head  over  them  and  over  the 
folly  of  being  in  love,  which  he  associates  with 
smallpox. 

The  next  number^^  returns  to  the  Tatler  for  its 
model,  though  it  represents  a  form  of  wit  as  popular 
then  as  it  is  repellent  now.  In  the  two  hundred  and 
sixteenth  Tatler^"^  may  be  found  the  will  of  a  Vir- 
tuoso who  leaves  to  his  wife  a  dried  cocatrice,  a 
skeleton,  a  drawer  of  shells,  a  box  of  butterflies,  and 
other  biological  specimens.  So  in  The  Monitor, 
various  rarities  from  the  collection  of  Jack  Near- 

*^  Quoted  in  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  65,  October  28,  1737. 
«  Monitor  No.  13,  November  12,  1736. 
«Ibid.,  No.  14,  November  19,  1736. 
"August  26,  1710. 


198    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

sight  are  noted  for  sale,  such  as  the  drum  of  a 
mouse's  ear,  the  pleura  and  lungs  of  a  moschetto,  a 
scull-cap  made  from  a  possum,  neatly  dressed,  and 
so  on.  The  whole  article  would  be  too  trivial  to 
dwell  upon,  were  it  not  that  just  here  in  the  most 
tmexpected  way  we  have  a  confirmation  of  The  Moni- 
tor's colonial  origin.  In  the  inventory  of  Jack 
Nearsight's  estate  are  Lines  on  a  Spider: 

Artist,  who  underneath  the  Table, 
Thy  curious  Texture  hast  display 'd 

followed  by  A  Satyr  upon  the  Freshes  of  James- 
River,  and  A  Panegyrich  upon  the  Oisters  of  Yorh- 
River.  Whatever  local  hits  or  allusions  were  in- 
tended here,  hardly  matter  now.  The  important 
facts  are  the  genuine  references  to  James  Eiver  and 
York  Eiver, — particularly  York  Eiver  oysters.  They 
were  not  topics  of  conversation  in  London. 

The  lively  Miss  Fidget  has  been  silent  for  some 
time.  True  to  her  function,  however,  she  comes 
forward  with  base  slander  in  the  fifteenth  Monitor.^^ 
It  is  not  called  slander,  in  so  many  words.  Only  the 
sly  use  of  Miss  Helena  Fidget's  personality  to  re- 
late it,  informs  the  reader  what  he  may  expect  and 
find.  As  the  ridicule  centers  about  The  Monitor, 
itself,  this  subtle  insinuation  is  very  effective.  The 
letter  is  extremely  dramatic, — a  good  example  of 
the  changed  method  in  periodical  essay  writing  since 
the  days  of  the  Spectator,  Miss  Fidget  begins, 
then,  with  a  game  of  piquet  at  Miss  Commode 's.^^ 
Miss  Flounce,  Miss  Tippet,  Mr.  Coupee,  and  Mr. 

«  November  26,  1736. 

"  The  commode  was  a  head  dress. 


THE    VIKGINIA    GAZETTE  199 

Bergamot  were  also  guests.  The  passion  for  nam- 
ing characters  after  some  pronounced  quality  or 
fashion  was  at  its  height.  Names  like  Miss  Edging, 
Miss  Courtly,  the  Duchess  of  Frippery,  Miss  Love- 
rule,  abound  everj^iere.  Here  the  names  indicate 
a  very  fashionable  salon.  Among  other  things,  the 
conversation  turns  to  the  Monitor.  ''0  Lud,''  says 
Mr.  Bergamot,  "don't  name  the  stupid  Toad." 

"Well,"  answers  Miss  Flounce,  "I  thank  God,  I, 
nor  any  of  my  Family,  can  either  read  or  write ;  but 
I  take  him  in,  to  make  Thread-Papers  for  my  Ser- 
vants." 

"True,"  adds  Mr.  Coupee,  "the  sending  Children 
to  School  is  only  practised  among  the  Vulgar.  The 
Men  of  Quality  in  England,  (especially  in  this  Age,) 
rarely  send  them  an^^iere  'till  they  are  fit  to  travel. 
Some  of  them,  indeed,  have  Tutors  for  their  Sons 
in  their  own  Houses;  but  that  is  more  for  the 
Grandeur  of  the  Thing,  than  any  real  Service. ' ' 

Of  course  the  whole  letter  of  Helena  Fidget  be- 
comes a  text  for  the  unhappiness  of  a  want  of  edu- 
cation, and  the  selfish  idleness  of  wealthy  leisure. 
But  the  letter  itself  is  ingenious  and  clever. 

The  Monitor  next^"  returns  to  his  meditative 
strain.  As  he  is  riding  out  on  the  highway  one  day, 
he  sees  a  pack  of  ill-joined  hounds  dash  by.  He  im- 
mediately moralizes  over  the  incongruities  between 
them,  the  keen  and  the  idle  yoked  together,  as  well  as 
other  contrasting  pairs.  Upon  being  invited  to  din- 
ner with  the  master  of  the  hounds,  he  observes  that 
the  guests  present  a  spectacle  just  as  incongruous. 

*^  Monitor  No.  16,  December  10,  1736. 


200    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

He  even  ventures  to  share  his  thought  with  the  host, 
who  sagely  remarks  that  this  is  life  itself, — a  be- 
wildering contrast.  The  Monitor  strongly  urges 
keeping  one's  temper  in  these  circumstances,  and 
accommodating  oneself  to  all  companies,  agreeable 
or  otherwise ! 

Very  late  in  the  series,^^  we  have  the  Monitor's 
account  of  his  own  life.  The  classical  essay  peri- 
odicals had  always  begun  in  this  way,  with  a  history 
of  the  imaginary  editor's  life,  usually  in  humorous 
vein,  yet  keeping  a  certain  dignity  withal.  The  story 
of  the  Monitor's  life  belongs  to  the  extravagant, 
fantastic  development  of  a  later  taste.  The  later 
periodicals  all  reveled  in  Arabian  Nights'  enter- 
tainments, transformations,  feats  of  magic,  second 
sight,  and,  if  nothing  better  offered,  witch  trials. 
We  must  not  forget  that  one  of  the  most  fanciful 
continuations  of  Chaucer's  Squire's  Tale  was  done 
in  the  earlier  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.*^  So 
it  is  entirely  in  the  natural  order  of  things  that  the 
Monitor  should  travel  in  the  East,  should  be  trans- 
formed to  a  Danish  dog,  then  to  an  ape,  and  so  on. 
While  he  is  an  ape,  he  assists  as  Trainbearer  at  high 
Mass!  After  this  sly  hit  at  the  Eoman  Catholic 
church,  he  proceeds  to  relate  his  escape  from  the 
Vatican  in  the  shape  of  a  bear,  and  his  melancholy 
arrival  at  Hockley  in  the  Hole,  '  '■  the  antient  Amphi- 

**  Monitor  No.  17,  December  31,  1736. 

**In  The  Canterhury  Tales  of  Chaucer,  Modernised  ty  several 
Hands.  Published  by  George  Ogle,  London,  1741.  The  Squire's  Tale 
in  this  edition  was  written  by  Boyse,  Ogle  and  Sterling.  Sterling's 
contribution  has  been  retold  in  Tales  of  the  Canterbury  Pilgrims,  by 
F.  J.  Darton,  pp.  219-230. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  201 

theatre  of  London."  In  other  words,  he  was  baited 
by  the  dogs,  and  after  a  tolerable  resistance,  sub- 
mitted. His  last  groan  ''occasioned  a  general 
Shout;  but  Dr.  Faustus  being  present,  bow'd  his 
Magic  Wand,  repeating  the  words  of  Shakespeare: 

By  my  rough  Magic  I  have  oft 

bedim 'd 
The  Noon-tide  Sun.  .  .  . 

Graves  at  my  command 
Have  wak'd  their  Sleepers,   op'd  and  let 

them  forth. 

And  I  instantly  ressum'd  my  first  Body,  to  the  great 
Surprise  of  the  Spectators."  After  serving  the 
famous  Doctor  for  seven  years,  ''I  took  shipping 
for  this  Colony,  in  order  to  spend  the  Remainder  of 
my  Days. ' '  Hence,  he  arrived  in  Virginia,  and  hence 
another  incidental  proof  of  colonial  origin  for  the 
whole  series  of  papers. 

The  Monitor  still  boasts  of  his  wizard  qualifica- 
tions in  the  new  world.  "My  House  stands  in  the 
midst  of  a  Wood,"  he  says.  And  his  man  Dominic 
has  posted  ''the  Hand  that  has  two  Thumbs"  on  the 
cross  roads  for  the  guidance  of  travellers.  "I  un- 
fold Mysteries  equal  to  any  Person  or  Persons,  that 
have  been  heretofore  in  this  Colony,  or  any  other  of 
His  Majesty's  Dominions,  viz., 

Who  is  like  to  die  a  Maid. 

Who  not. 

I  name  the  first  Ship  in  York  River. 

I  name  the  Ship  that's  first  loaded. 

Who  will  have  the  largest  Consignments,  etc." 


202    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

The  fact  that  all  this  magic  hardly  accords  with  the 
previous  high  judicial  tone  of  a  rebuker  of  folly, 
would  not  trouble  either  writer  or  reader. 

The  eighteenth  Monitor^^  contains  another  indica- 
tion of  pioneer,  colonial  existence  (even  though  in 
joke)  in  a  letter  from  Timothy  Forecast,  of  Fore- 
cast Hall.  '  ^  Sir, '  ^  he  begins,  '  *  I  think  myself  oblig  'd 
to  acquaint  your  Worship,  that  at  my  first  coming 
into  these  Parts,  our  Inhabitants  were  few,  and  for 
some  years  after  the  County  was  seated,  we  were 
most  grievously  infested  with  Wolves  and  Bears,  to 
the  great  Perplexity  of  myself  and  Neighbors,  .  .  . 
But  now  we  labour  under  a  much  worse  Calamity. 
.  .  .  'Tis  call'd,  (as  our  Parson  informs  us)  a  Tale 
Bearer.  .  .  .''  This  he  thinks  may  even  be  an  evil 
spirit,  since  *^  'tis  at  all  Times  upon  the  March,  Day 
and  Night.''  The  parson's  moral  couplets  against 
scandal  and  tale-bearing  are  thus  introduced  as  a 
charm.  But  they  could  hardly  have  had  much  effect, 
even  on  the  mildest  of  evil  spirits. 

In  brief,  The  Monitor  was  running  down,  was  be- 
ginning to  depend  on  exaggeration,  artificial  stimu- 
lus, instead  of  humorous  observations  of  real  life. 
The  reader  rather  welcomes  the  criticism  of  a  cer- 
tain Zoilus,  when  it  appears  in  the  same  number  of 
The  Virginia  Ga^e^^e  in  which  the  eighteenth  Mo7«i^or 
was  published.  Who  Zoilus  may  have  been,  or  what 
criticism  he  represented,  it  would  be  profitless  to 
speculate  about.  Zoilus  was  a  favorite  name  for  a 
critic  to  assume,  derived  ultimately,  of  course,  from 
the    ancient    Zoilus 's    criticism    of    Homer.      The 

''  January  21,  1736-37. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  203 

bantering,  hectoring  critic  especially  liked  to  assume 
it.  For  instance,  The  Gruhstreet  Journal  of  April  6, 
1732,  has  a  clever  paper  signed  Zoilus,  ridiculing 
Dr.  Bentley's  edition  of  Milton^s  Paradise  Lost  by 
mock  emendations  in  Bentley's  very  manner.  Mil- 
ton's line 

Millions  of  spiritual  creatures  walk  the  earth^^ 

becomes 

Several  angels  walk  upon  the  earth. 

and  there  are  many  other  ridiculous  mock  imitations 
of  the  learned  doctor.^- 

A  similar  Zoilus,  then,  whoever  he  may  have  been, 
writes  to  Mr.  Parks,  of  The  Virginia  Gazette: 

Sir, 

I  should  take  it  as  a  Favor,  if  you'll  give  the  following 
Song  a  Place  in  your  next  Paper.  It  is  a  Revenge,  long 
since  due  to  good  Sense  and  fine  Writing ;  which  have  been 
used  in  a  most  barbarous  and  inhuman  Manner  by  the 
Monitor.  .  .  . 

Your  constant  Reader  and  Subscriber, 

Zoilus. 

^^  Paradise  Lost,  Bk.  IV,  1.  677. 

'^^"Bavius,"  the  editor  of  The  Gruhstreet  Journal,  was  a  severe 
critic  of  Bentley,  as  an  editor  of  Milton,  and  published  in  The  Gruh- 
street Journal  a  series  of  Animadversions  upon  Br.  Bentley 's  Preface 
to  Paradise  Lost.  He  concludes  the  Animadversions  by  saying: 
"For  a  person,  who,  tho'  allowed  to  be  a  very  learned  Critic,  was 
never  imagined  to  be  a  Poet,  to  publish  his  extemporary,  crude  and 
indigested  criticisms,  upon  the  compleatest  Poem  in  the  English 
Tongue;  to  pretend  to  alter  and  correct  it  in  every  page;  to  strike 
out  a  great  many  Verses  and  to  put  in  several  of  his  own;  this  justly 
raises  the  wonder,  Scorn,  and  Indignation  of  all  that  hear  it.  This  is 
to  treat  the  Heroic  Poem  of  the  great  Milton  like  the  Exercise  of  a 
school-boy;  and  infinitely  exceeds  the  Audaciousness  of  Zoilus  in  his 
Animadversions  upon  Homer. ' ' 


204    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

The  song  that  follows  is  set  to  the  tune  of  Dorset's 
sentimental  ballad  To  all  ye  Ladies  now  on  Layid,^^ 
a  great  favorite  at  the  time.  The  London  Magazine 
for  July,  1733,  has  among  its  poetical  attempts, 
RicJwiond:  A  Ballad,  to  the  same  tune,  and  The  Lon- 
don Magazine  for  January,  1735,  likewise  indicates 
this  identical  tune  for  The  Constant  Lover  in  Meta- 
morphoses, a  song,  or  sentimental  ballad,  beginning 

Dear  Phillis  by  great  jove  I  swear 

So  it  was  the  fashion  to  use  it  as  a  musical  setting 
for  timely  verses.  No  doubt  Zoilus  had  seen  the  new 
ballads  in  The  London  Magazine,  or  others  precisely 
similar  when  he  composed  his  scathing  lines  on  the 
Monitor  which  we  quote  in  part : 

The  Monitor  Admonished 

A  new  Song 

(To  the  tune  of,  To  all  ye  Ladies  now  at  Land) 

I,  who  long  since  did  draw  my  Pen 

To  injur 'd  Wit's  Defence, 
Am  now  alass !     compell'd  again 

To  succour  common  Sense; 
For  sure  it  never  suffered  more; 
Than  lately  by  the  Monitor. 

With  a  fa  la 

^  To  all  ye  Ladies  now  on  land 
We  men  at  sea  endite 
We'd  have  you  now  to  understand 

How  hard  it  is  to  write. 
Our  paper,  pens  and  ink  and  we, 
Go  up  and  down  upon  the  sea 

with  a  fa  la. 
(Both  music  and  words  are  published  in  Walter  Crane's  Pan  Pipes.) 


THE    VIKGINIA    GAZETTE  205 

This  Monitor  pretends  to  preach 

In  sacred  Wisdom's  Schools; 
But  I'll  a  useful  Lesson  teach 

Worth  all  his  silly  Rules; 
By  which  he'll  mend  what's  gone  before; 
And  this  is,  Never  to  write  more. 

With  a  fa  la 

I'm  sorry  that  'tis  still  my  Fate 

Ungrateful  Truths  to  tell; 
But  since,  that  he's  a  Dunce  of  late 

The  World  does  not  conceal, 
'Tis  Pity,  to  himself  alone 
This  weighty  Truth  should  be  unknown. 

With  a  fa  la 

This  stinging  rebuke,  with  its  curious  resemblance 
in  phrase  to  almost  all  the  epigrammatic  English 
poets  of  the  day,  was  perhaps  just  enough  if  applied 
to  The  Monitor's  recent  extravagances,  but  cer- 
tainly would  be  overwhelmingly  unjust  applied  to 
any  of  the  earlier  papers.  Even  now  he  showed  that 
he  had  enough  of  the  old  fire  to  make  a  spirited 
reply  both  in  prose  and  verse  in  his  next  number.^ ^ 

'^It  is  very  certain,"  he  begins,  ^'that  there  is  not 
a  more  infectious  Disease  than  that  of  Writing: 
And  as  my  Admonisher  Zoilus  observes,  'twou'd  be 
a  glorious  undertaking  to  clear  the  World  of  those 
Vermin,  call'd  Scribblers,  Save  One!  for  it  has  been 
long  observed  that  writing  is  quite  useless,  and  the 
Spirit  of  it  maintain 'd  only  by  men  of  the  Super- 
idiot  Class. '^  He  proposes  therefore  ''a  Bill,  in 
every  Parish  Church,  to  pray  for  the  continuance  of 

^Monitor  No.  19,  January  28,  1736-37. 


206    LITEKAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

the  hard  weather  to  starve  them  all  out  'Save  One/ 
or  make  them  useful  in  other  directions,  as  physi- 
cians do  distempers.''  He  announces  that  he  too 
will  write  a  song,  and  steal  nothing  from  Zoilus  but 
his  tune — ' '  Nothing  can  make  me  ill  natur  'd,  at  this 
Juncture,"  he  declares,  ^'but  the  want  of  Wood,  and 
a  chearful  Glass." 

The  Monitor  to  Zoilus 

If  useful  Lessons  you  can  Teach 

Pray  let  them  be  concise; 
No  matter  whose  they  are  you  preach 

We  will  not  criticise. 
Do  but  observe  the  Rule  laid  down 
Hold  forth, — But  let  it  he  your  own. 

With  a  fa  la. 

The  Dogs  you  lately  saw  in  Print 

Were  silly  Dogs  indeed; 
Zoilus,  my  Friend,  take  back  your  Hint, 

And  probe  them  'till  they  bleed; 
Since  they  have  given  such  Offence, 
Pray  spare  but  One, — The  Dog  of  Sense. 

With  a  fa  la. 

Zoilus  had,  in  one  stanza  of  his  poem,  hinted  that 
the  Monitor  included  himself  in  his  category  of  ill- 
paired  dogs,  representing  human  kind. 

Himself  he  plac'd  a  Sad-Dog  there 

With  a  fa  la. 

The  Monitor,  then,  by  asking  mercy  only  for  the  Dog 
of  Sense,  and  proposing  prayers  in  every  parish  for 
the  continuance  of  the  hard  weather  to  starve  all  the 


THE   VIRGINIA   GAZETTE  207 

scribblers   but    one,    obviously   returns   the  thrust 
against  '^vermin  scribblers.'' 

In  his  next  number^^  he  very  wisely  leaves  per- 
sonal discussion  and  broadside  for  a  pleasant,  sooth- 
ing little  essay  on  good  nature,  reminding  his  readers 
and  incidentally  his  enemy  that  "The  great  Lord 
Chancellor  Clarendon,  in  one  of  his  Speeches  to  the 
Parliament,  soon  after  the  Restoration,  when  he 
would  recommend  to  the  Nation  Unanimity  and 
Peace,  after  their  long  continued  Contentions, 
earnestly  desires  them,  as  a  Means  thereto,  to  make 
use  of  Good  Nature  towards  one  another,  which  he 
tells  them  is  so  peculiar  to  the  English  Nation,  that 
the  very  Word  itself  will  not  bear  a  Translation  into 
any  other  language." 

But  Zoilus  will  not  let  him  rest  in  this  peaceful 
retreat  under  cover  of  the  great  Lord  Clarendon. 
In  the  same  issue  of  The  Virginia  Gazette  which  has 
the  Monitor's  plea  for  good  nature,  we  find  another 
stinging  and  somewhat  witty  attack  from  the  pen  of 
his  foe.  Zoilus  does  not  hesitate  to  bolster  his  own 
wit  with  lavish  quotations  from  English  satire,  how- 
ever, and  intersperses  lines  from  Congreve  and 
Dryden,  references  to  the  Rehearsal,  and  other 
reminiscences,  to  increase  his  general  effect.  His 
motto  from  Juvenal,  of  course,  is  merely  the  common- 
place heading  of  the  ordinary  eighteenth-century 
essay.  ''There  is  no  Tribe  of  Mortals  so  incorrig- 
ible as  your  Mortal- Writers,"  he  begins  rather 
smartly,  passing  on  immediately  to  the  proposition 
that  The  Monitor  has  really  been  dead  five  or  six 

»  Monitor  No.  20,  February  4,  1736-37. 


208    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIALi  NEWSPAPEKS 

months;  that  is,  during  the  entire  period  of  its  sup- 
posed existence.  He  has  nothing  but  the  sharpest 
condemnation,  naturally,  for  this  spectre  stalking 
about  under  a  sham  pretense  of  being  alive.  In  his 
utter  contempt,  he  quotes  Congreve's  ^^  excellent 
Epistle  to  Lord  Cobham:'' 

Baboons  and  apes  ridiculous  we  find; 

For  what?     For  ill  resembling  Human  Kind. 

None  are,  for  being  what  they  are,  in  Fault, 

But  for  not  being,  what  they  would  be  thought. 

Then  he  continues  in  his  own  particular  vein  of 
rather  heavy  satire:  *' There  was  published,  in  your 
Gazette  of  last  Friday,  a  certain  unmeaning,  shape- 
less Monster,  called  a  Monitor;  and  as  far  as  I  could 
penetrate  into  its  Design,  (for  it  was  very  mys- 
terious) it  was  intended  as  an  Answer  to  my  last.'' 
But  in  this  answer  Zoilus  thinks  that  the  Monitor  has 
surpassed  even  his  own  notorious  silliness.  Dry- 
den's  famous  couplet  on  Shadwell  is  used  at  this 
point  to  add  venom  to  his  shaft : 

Others  to  some  faint  Meaning  make  Pretence; 
But  .  .  .  never  deviates  into  Sense. 

Zoilus  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  Monitor  should 
have  his  works  translated  into  English, — witness  his 
first  sent ence,^^  which  his  critic  regards  as  unpardon- 
ably  obscure,  since,  ^4ike  Bays  in  The  Rehearsal,  he 
opens  the  Scene  with  a  Whisper."  Above  all,  Zoilus 
shows  that  the  Monitor's  hint  of  plagiary  rankled. 
The  Monitor  had  said,  we  remember, 

^  On  "  those  Vermin,  call  'd  Scribblers, ' '  Monitor  No.  19,  January 

28,  1736-37. 


THE    VIKGINIA    GAZETTE 


209 


Do  but  observe  the  Rule  laid  down, 

Hold  forth.  .  .  .  But  let  it  be  your  own. 

Zoilus  insists  that  to  accuse  him  of  plagiary  is 
ridiculous,  when  the  Monitor  himself  had  "slily 
purloined  from  a  Song-Book''  his  lines  on  the 
spider's  artistry  under  the  table.  As  usual,  he  can- 
not resist  ending  with  a  mocking  song  to  his  enemy, 
who  is  rather  wittily  characterized  in  these  terms: 

Resolv  'd,  like  a  Hero,  to  bear  all  the  Brunt ; 
But  says  nothing  in  his,  or  his  Party's  Defence ; 
Since  he  only  there  pleads  for  the  Dog  of  good  Sense. 

Derry  down 

But  perhaps  the  cleverest  satire  of  Zoilus  is  con- 
tained in  the  mock  notice  immediately  after  the  song. 
We  quote  a  portion  of  it. 

Advertisement 

* '  To  all  Gentlemen  and  Ladies,  who  delight  in  the  Noble 
and  Princely  Diversion  of  Hunting :  This  is  to  give  Notice, 
That  a  Dunce  will  be  hunted  every  other  Friday,  in  the 
Gazette,  'til  he  is  fairly  run  down.  He  is  an  Animal  of  a 
most  peculiar  and  singular  Nature ;  being  very  long-winded 
and  pertinacious;  and  is  known  to  afford  excellent  Sport, 
having  tired  more  People,  than  all  the  Foxes  that  ever 
Yorkshire  produced.  .  .  .  His  only  weapon  is  a  Gray-Goose 
Quill  through  which  he  can  distill  a  poisonous  Juice,  which 
has  deprived  several  Persons  of  all  Manner  of  Patience. 

''And,  that  he  may  be  hunted  to  some  Tune,  Musick 
shall  attend  the   Company  to  the  Field;   and  after  the 
Chase  is  over,  the  Gentlemen  and  Ladies  shall  be  diverted 
with  a  Song.     So,  God  save  the  King." 
15 


210   LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

But  it  is  the  Monitor  wlio  writes  the  new  song,^^ 
and  also  quotes  the  rather  apt  epigram,  frankly 
acknowledged  as  a  loan  from  The  Gentleman's 
Magazine: 

Has  Codrus,  in  his  Critic  Pride 
Approv'd  of  Works  yet  known? 

Yes,  Sir,  what  none  approv'd  beside, 
Of  Works,  that  were  his  own. 

He  also  has  the  next  word  in  his  last  essay,  the 
twenty-second,^^  a  very  typical  example  of  the  eight- 
eenth-century vision-allegory.  Criptonimus  writes 
to  the  Monitor,  begging  him  to  use  his  supernatural 
powers  in  the  interpretation  of  a  strange  dream, 
which  he  describes  in  some  detail.  The  dream 
showed  Criptonimus  a  man  sitting  under  a  tree  dis- 
puting by  himself.  He  had  with  him  a  few  books, 
The  Pearl  of  Eloquence,  A  Help  to  Discourse,  The 
Spiritual  Mouse-Trap,  or  The  Painful  Speaking 
Trumpet  to  his  Deaf  Auditory.  Presently  ^^a  Lady 
appeared;  her  Mien  was  tatter 'd — her  Garment 
Patch- work,  conipos'd  of  Verse  and  Prose.''  But 
the  strange  being  under  the  tree  addressed  her  in 
enthusiastic  couplets,  as  his  genius,  promising  to 
restore  her  power  and  beauty.  The  Monitor  has  no 
difficulty  in  deciphering  the  meaning  of  the  dream. 
By  the  stars,  he  says,  the  first  letter  of  his  character 
is  the  last  in  the  alphabet.  The  reader,  of  course, 
has  suspected  as  much  at  the  mention  of  the  solitary 
disputant  reading  The  Spiritual  Mouse-Trap,  or  The 
Painful  Speaking  Trumpet  to  his  Deaf  Auditory, 

"February  11,  1736-37. 
"« February  25,  1736-37. 


THE    VIEGINIA    GAZETTE  211 

Zoilus  is  clearly  enough  the  painful  speaking 
trumpet  to  a  deaf  auditory.  The  identity  is  put 
beyond  doubt  when  we  read  that  ^'this  carping 
Creature  would  have  invokVl  the  Muses.''  But  he 
was  given  instead  ^'the  Goddess  of  Dulness,  to 
attend  him,  the  said  Carping  Creature,  upon  all  Oc- 
casions. This  Sir,  was  the  Lady  you  saw  appear 
with  that  tatter 'd  Mien.  .  .  .  Given  at  my  House, 
this  twenty- fifth  of  February." 

So  the  Monitor  makes  his  final  bow,  and  leaves  the 
stage;  whether  because  Zoilus  had  actually  suc- 
ceeded in  his  plan  of  "running  him  down"  or  be- 
cause he  himself  had  tired  of  the  game,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say.  Three  weeks  later^^  Zoilus  sends  his 
last  criticism  to  The  Virginia  Gazette,  and  the  brief 
literary  skirmish  is  over.  This  last  attack  of  Zoilus 
rather  deserves  to  be  called  carping  criticism.  It  is 
concerned  chiefly  with  the  Monitor's  trifling  inex- 
actness of  phrase,  here  and  there,  and  need  not  de- 
tain us.  The  principal  thing  of  importance  to  note 
in  all  this  play  and  counterplay  is  the  ease  and 
naturalness  with  which  they  could  both  fit  words  to 
the  lilt  of  an  old  song.  Compared  to  the  attempts  of 
Mather  Byles,  the  verses  in  The  Virginia  Gazette, 
not  only  the  verses  under  consideration,  but  others 
scattered  through  its  files,  are  almost  poetry.  Ther 
is  even  some  knowledge  of  contemporary  English 
literary  criticism.  Zoilus  knew  Congreve,  Dryden, 
Pope,  Buckingham's  satiric  verse  as  well  as  The 
Rehearsal,  all  from  the  particular  point  of  view  of 
their  critical  ideas. 

=^  March  18,  1736-37. 


ers  i , 
ere  // 
ish  /■ 


212    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

To  pass  a  final  judgment  on  The  Monitor  as 
colonial  literature  would  be  a  difficult  and  compli- 
cated matter.  But  taking  all  the  noteworthy  pro- 
duction throughout  British  America  up  to  1737  as  a 
guide,  we  find  the  only  rivals  in  the  writings  of  the 
Mather  dynasty  in  Massachusetts,  the  essays  that 
we  have  previously  considered  in  other  journals, 
Franklin's  prefaces  to  Poor  Richard,  Colonel  "Wil- 
liam Byrd's  History  of  the  Dividing  Line,  and  some 
stray  poems  and  letters  here  and  there.  Cotton 
Mather's  Magnalia  Christi  did  not  even  pretend  to 
be  literature,  though  at  times  it  had  a  severe  art  of 
its  own.  Much  colonial  writing,  especially  the  ser- 
mons, treatises  and  histories  of  the  ecclesiastics, 
hitherto  treated  as  literature  largely  because  of 
the  supposed  dearth  of  anything  else,  would  fall 
into  other  classifications  under  any  strict  judgment. 
Even  if  we  leave  all  these  out  of  consideration  for 
the  moment,  and  take  only  the  small  amount  of 
creative  work  that  would  remain,  we  could  not  claim 
for  The  Monitor  so  high  a  place  as  that  of  Frank- 
lin's best  prefaces  to  Poor  Richard  or  Colonel 
Byrd's  best  sallies,  or  some  other  pieces  of  various 
sorts  produced  in  the  colonies.  But  it  is  fairly  cer- 
tain that  a  selection  of  the  liveliest  numbers  of  The 
Monitor  would  make  Franklin's  Busy-Body  seem 
pale  and  lifeless.  Patience,^^  in  her  busy  little  shop, 
complaining  of  tedious,  impertinent  callers,  is  the 
only  figure  of  the  Busy-Body  series  worthy  to  be 
placed  alonside  of  the  Monitor^s  woman  of  fashion 
and   her  daughters  Arabella   Sly,   Helena  Fidget, 

^  See  Busy-Body,  No.  4. 


THE    VIKGINIA    GAZETTE  213 

Amoret,  and  Penelope  Leer.  The  Busy-Body,  of 
course,  being  formed  upon  an  earlier  model,  does 
not  even  attempt  the  sort  of  witty,  fashionable  dia- 
logue found  in  the  letters  of  the  Monitor^s  young 
reporters.  And  indeed  there  is  nothing  just  like  it 
to  be  found  in  the  colonies  in  1736,  unless  directly 
copied  from  English  sources.  The  Virginia 
Gazette,  then,  contains  several  pieces  of  light  social 
satire,  unique  in  kind,  and  surpassed  by  very  few 
other  colonial  writings  up  to  1737. 

As  to  the  author  of  The  Monitor,  speculation 
would  probably  be  profitless.  The  most  important 
fact  for  our  present  purpose  is  that  a  considerable 
number  of  Virginians  might  have  written  it.  Aside 
from  Parks  himself,  a  not  very  likely  candidate,  !. 
William  and  Mary  College  was  continually  sending 
out  "scribbling  collegians."  These  young  fellows 
were  the  very  ones  who  delighted  in  acting,  some- 
times contrary  to  the  desire  of  the  authorities,  and 
who  would  be  likely  to  attend  the  public  theater. 
We  must  not  forget  that  old  Williamsburg  had  its 
theater,  its  bowling  alley,  its  balls  and  assemblies, 
its  games  of  Piquet.  It  was  as  much  a  miniature 
London  as  it  could  be  made.  The  Professors  of  the 
College,  too,  often  wrote  occasional  verse  of  some 
merit.  In  one  instance,  at  least,  one  of  them  pro- 
duced a  rather  remarkable  little  volume  of  poems 
in  varied  metrical  forms.  Over  and  over  again  they 
are  advertised  in  The  Virginia  Gazette  from  the 
time  of  their  first  publication  on  October  22,  1736. 
In  the  Gazette  of  that  date,  we  read:  *'This  Day  is 
published.  Poems  on  several  Occasions,  never  before 


214    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPEKS 

printed.  By  a  Gentleman  of  Virginia.  Price 
stitch 'd  15^"  A  copy  of  this  rare  little  book  has 
been  seen  by  the  present  writer  in  the  Boston 
Athenaeum,  among  George  Washington's  private 
books,  largely  owned  now  by  the  Athenaeum  Li- 
brary. It  has  his  autograph  signature  on  the  fly- 
leaf, G°.  Washington.  A  Virginian  gentleman  of 
to-day  owns  a  copy  with  a  signature  indicating  the 
author  of  the  poems,  a  professor  at  William  and 
Mary.^i 

Since  these  poems,  with  their  Jcnown  Virginian 
origin,  were  advertised  so  often  in  the  Gazette,  and 
since  they  furnish  an  excellent  illustration  of  the 
writing  that  could  be  done  and  was  being  done  in 
Virginia  at  a  time  exactly  contemporaneous  with 
The  Monitor,  it  will  scarcely  be  aside  from  our  pres- 
ent purpose  to  say  a  few  words  more  about  them. 
They  are  full  to  overflowing  of  references  to  Lon- 
don, Twickenham,  Oxford,  Windsor.  They  are  full 
of  experiments  in  meter,  from  Miltonic  verse  to  four 
accent  rhymed  stanzas  to  Sylvia.  They  show  an 
immense  interest  in  the  recent  development  of  the 
London  stage,  and  a  strong  resentment  at  the  in- 
trusions of  Harlequin  and  his  merry  acrobats.  The 
poet  looks  back  with  regret  to  the  days  when 
^'Shakespear,  Eow,  and  all  those  Sons  of  Fame" 
held  the  stage. 

Next  Harlequin,  ingenious  Antique,  came; 

With  Kick  facetious,  or  with  witty  Grin, 

*^  A  private  letter  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  William  G.  Stanard,  of 
the  Virginia  Historical  Society,  is  the  source  of  this  information. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  215 

He  rais'd  our  Laughter  .  .  .  but  expos 'd  our  Brain. 

In  vain  Mercutio  jests,  poor  Juliet  mourns  in  vain. 

Phough!     Who  can  bear  th'  intolerable  Strain! 

Where  strong  and  manly  Sense  disturbs  our  Ease, 

And  Passions,  too  affecting  e'er  to  please. 

To  burning  Houses,  Monsters  and  Grimace, 

To  flying  Bottles,  wands  and  Waving  Seas, 

To  cheated  Cuckolds,  and  the  bold  Rogere, 

Illustrious  Hero !  pendent  in  the  Air ; 

To  these  we  fly,  and  leave  those  Sons  of  Spleen, 

The  Fools  of  Sense,  to  doat  on  Shakespear's  Scene. 

Truly,  when  a  known  '^gentleman  of  Virginia"  can 
have  such  an  appreciation  of  London  life  as  this, 
there  is  no  matter  of  surprise  in  the  chance  London 
scenes  of  The  Monitor, 

These  poems  have  no  bigoted  view  of  human 
pleasures,  in  general.  We  fear  they  would  have 
made  the  New  England  divines  look  for  some  im- 
mediate curse  from  Heaven: 

True  Joys  are  few;  then  boldly  fill. 
The  racy  Juice  will  heal  Despair. 

•  ••••••• 

Then  let  the  ruddy  God  advance, 

And  some  beauteous  lovesome  She; 

With  Mirth,  and  Joke,  and  Quirp,  and  Dance; 

These  alone  have  Joys  for  me. 

Obviously,  the  Monitor  could  easily  have  been  con- 
ceived in  the  same  atmosphere  of  belief  in  the  vivid 
realities  of  life. 

The  translations  and  adaptations  from  the  classics 
in  the  little  volume  we  have  been  speaking  of,  were, 
of  course,  to  be  expected.     They  occur  naturally 


216    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

enough  among  any  eighteenth-century  poems.  The 
Latin  verses  produced  for  one  occasion  or  another 
at  William  and  Mary  College  may  not  have  been 
more  numerous  than  usual  in  a  college,  but  it  is  very 
certain  that  far  more  than  usual  were  translated 
and  inserted  in  The  Virginia  Gazette.  They  vary 
from  complimentary  formalities  addressed  to  the 
Governor  of  the  Colony^^  to  elegies  of  more  or  less 
merit,  such  as  the  ode  to  the  memory  of  Sir  John 
Eandolph,  probably  by  a  professor  of  William  and 
Mary,  though  possibly  written  by  the  Eector  of 
Bruton.^^  No  doubt  the  frequent  lines  in  imitation 
of  Horace  or  Anacreon  came  less  directly  from  the 
college. 

But  more  interesting  than  imitations  of  the  classics 
are  the  absolutely  genuine  lyrics  sprinkled  through 
the  Gazette  at  intervals.  When  a  poem  is  headed 
''By  a  young  Gentleman  of  Virginia,"  we  may  be 
fairly  sure  that  it  was  composed  at  home,  in  the 
colony,  often  by  some  college  student.  Most  signifi- 
cant of  these  little  lyrics,  is  one  which  in  all  proba- 
bility came  from  the  pen  of  Colonel  William  Byrd. 
If  this  is  so,  it  will  indeed  add  little  to  his  fame,  yet 
it  will  form  an  interesting  addition  to  his  writings 
as  we  know  them. 

In  the  Gazette  for  May  5,  1738,  is  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Parks,  as  follows : 

•^See  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  18,  December  3,  1736,  where  the 
Honorable  William  Gooch  is  addressed  in  an  imitation  of  Horace, 
Book  4,  Ode  15. 

•"Both  Latin  and  English  are  given  in  the  Gazette,  No.  36,  April 
8,  1737. 


THE   VIRGINIA   GAZETTE  217 

Mr.  Parks: 

Please  to  insert  the  following  Performance  of  a  Youth 
of  my  Acquaintance,  in  your  Gazette,  and 
You'll  oblige, 

your  constant  Reader, 

W.  B. 

Not  only  does  the  signature,  W.  B.,  seem  significant, 
here,  but  the  title  is  followed  by  a  little  explanatory 
note  which  puts  us  on  Colonel  Byrd's  track  at  once. 
The  poem  is  called  The  Discovery,  by  a  Youth  of  the 
Frontiers.  Now  we  know  that  Colonel  Byrd  was 
interested  in  the  frontiers  along  the  Blue  Eidge. 
He  wrote  a  pamphlet  "booming"  the  frontier 
lands.  And  this  pamphlet  was  even  translated 
into  German  for  the  benefit  of  the  Swiss  settlers. 
So  the  little  poem  called  The  Discovery  is  very  prob- 
ably his.  "The  youth  of  my  acquaintance"  who, 
he  tells  us,  composed  it,  need  not  be  taken  too  se- 
riously. Colonel  Byrd  would  perhaps  not  care  to 
be  known  as  the  author  of  such  gallantly  youthful 
lines  as  these : 

In  vain,  I  strove  my  Love  to  hide, 
In  vain,  th'  apparent  Truth  deny'd, 
My  Blushes  told  my  Tongue,  it  ly'd. 
Whether  my  Breast's  involv'd  with   Cares, 
At  her  approach  a  Calm  appears, 
Or  if  my  Heart  with  gloomy  Grief 
Is  clouded  o'er,  she  brings  Relief; 
Her  charming  Eyes  n  ',w  Joys  distil. 
And  my  fond  Soul  with  Raptures  fill. 

That  the  Gazette  knew  Colonel  Byrd  and  his  fam- 
ily well  is  amply  proved  by  the  "Acrostick  upon 


218    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

Miss  Evelyn  Bjrd,  lately  deceased"  printed  in  the 
Gazette,  December  9,  1737.  This  beautiful  girl  had 
died  because  of  her  father  ^s  opposition  to  a  love- 
match,  as  the  story  goes,  and  in  a  pencil  note  in  the 
margin  of  the  Gazette  we  read  that  the  acrostic  was 
also  her  epitaph.  The  odd  lines  have  an  almost  flip- 
pant ring  to-day : 

Ever  constant  to  her  Friend 
Vigilant  in  Truth's  Defence, 
Entertaining  to  her  End, 
Life!  Brimful  of  Eloquence. 
Youth  in  Person ;  Age  in  sense, 
Nature  gave  her  Store  immense. 

This  epitaph  is  interesting  for  its  associations 
merely.  But  there  are  a  few  lyrics  of  real  merit  in 
the  Gazette,  such  as  the  ^'Verses  occasioned  by  a 
young  Lady's  singing  to  the  Spinnet.  By  a  young 
Gentleman  in  Virginia. ''^^  We  give  the  opening 
couplets : 

Sweetness  and  Strength  in  Silvia's  Voice  unite. 
The  God  that  gave  it,  gave  it  for  Delight; 
Orpheus,  who  drew,  by  Musick,  Woods  along. 
Must  yield  to  Silvia's  entertaining  Song. 

Another,  not  quite  so  good,  is  written  To  a  Lady,  on 
a  Screen  of  Her  Working.^^  We  are  told  that  "the 
following  Lines  were  wrote  by  a  Gentleman  of  Vir- 
ginia.'' After  describing  the  flowered  screen  in  all 
its  glory,  he  closes  with  the  wish: 

Refreshing  Green,  from  age  preserve  those  Eyes 
By  which  You  flourish  in  immortal  Dies. 

"*  See  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  44,  June  3,  1737. 
"5  Ibid.,  No.  19,  December  10,  1736. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  219 

Many  other  bits  of  verse,  epigrams,  trials  of  wit, 
love  songs  to  Chloe  or  Fidelia,  no  doubt  represent  ■ 
the  native  talent.     When  we  come  to  the  borrowingV. 
from  English  sources,  the  number  of  reprints  soon^' 
grows    bewilderingiy    large.     Not    only    fairly   im- 
portant occasional  poems  like  Gibber's  odes,'^^^  Pope's 
inscription  on  Gay's  monument, -*^^  or  a  new  prologue 
to  be  spoken  at  a  revival  of  Kuig  John  at  Drury 
L^jjg65c  ^j.g  copied  in  full  into  The  Virginia  Gazette, 
but  all  sorts  of  absurd  squibs,  jokes  and  light  vers  de 
societe  come  directly  from  the  poetical  section  of 
the  London  magazines.     Any  chance  page  of  a  Vir- 
ginia Gazette  that  one  may  turn  to,  is  likely  to  be 
broken  with  verse  of  one  kind  or  another. 

So  far  as  actual  affairs  abroad  were  concerned, 
Irish  interests  held  a  very  high  place  in  the  Gazette. 
Dean  Swift  is  often  quoted  at  length,  usually  as  the 
cham^Dion  of  oppressed  Ireland,  rather  than  as  a 
poet  or  man  of  letters.  After  the  religious  disa- 
bilities of  1704  had  been  established  beyond  hope 
of  change,  Virginia  had  attracted  many  Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians  from  Ulster  County  in  the  North  of 
Ireland.  By  1730  they  drifted  through  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley  in  large  numbers,  and  Governor  Gooch 
was  kept  busy  dispensing  grants  to  the  valley  lands. 
It  is  very  natural,  therefore,  that  Parks  should 
copy  Irish  items  into  his  Gazette,  which  he  expected 
to  circulate  through  the  country  districts. 

The  first  of  these  items  is  from  The  Political 
State  for  June,  1736,^^  and  describes  the  petition  of 

«^^  See  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  35,  April  1,  1737. 

^^''Ibid.,  No.  11,  October  15,  1736. 

^^-^  Ibid.,  No.  44,  June  3,  1737. 

"Inserted  in  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  12,  October  22,  1736. 


220    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

the  Dublin  Guild  against  lowering  the  coin.  Dean 
Swift  is  mentioned  with  just  the  dignity  belonging 
to  his  office,  and  to  his  advocacy  of  Irish  interests, 
and  no  more.  ^^On  the  24th  of  April  last/'  we  are 
told,  '^  there  was  a  Grand  Meeting  of  the  Guild  at 
Dublin,  where  above  a  Hundred  and  Fifty  eminent 
Merchants  were  present.  The  occasion  of  their 
Meeting  was  to  draw  up  a  Petition,  to  his  Grace  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  and  Council,  against  lowering  their 
Gold  Coin.  .  .  .  Among  the  rest,  the  Eev.  and 
Worthy  Dr.  Swift,  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  appeared 
as  a  Member  of  the  Guild,  and  as  he  has  always 
behav'd  with  a  proper  Zeal  and  Concern,  when  he 
thought  the  Interest  of  his  Country  at  Stake,  he 
made  a  Speech  upon  this  Occasion."  A  report  of  the 
speech  follows  in  The  Virginia  Gazette.  It  is  an  elo- 
quent plea  for  the  poor  as  the  the  real  losers  by  the 
fall  of  money.  The  Dean  insists  that  Bishops  and 
Justices  will  be  as  well  off  as  before. 

The  same  argument  appears  in  a  more  flipiDant 
and  amusing  form  in  some  popular  verses  which 
Parks  copied  into  the  Gazette,  April  28,  1738,  under 
the  title.  Ay  and  No,  A  Tale  from  Dublin^  done 
into  Verse. 

At  Dublin's  high  Feast  sat  Primate  and  Dean, 
Both  Dress 'd  like  Divines,  with  Band  and  Face  clean. 
Quoth  Hugh  of  Armagh,  the  Mob  is  grown  bold. 
Ay,  ay,  quoth  the  Dean,  the  Cause  is  old  Gold. 
No,  no,  quoth  the  Prime  ...  if  Causes  we  sift, 
This  Mischief  arises  from  witty  Dean  Swift. 
The  smart  one  replied,  there's  no  Wit  in  the  Case; 
And  nothing  of  that  e'er  troubl'd  your  Grace. 


THE    VIKGINIA    GAZETTE  221 

'Tis  Matter  of  Weight  and  a  mere  Money  Job; 

But  the  lower  the  Coin,  the  higher  the  Mob. 

Go  tell  your  Friend  Bob,  and  other  great  Folk, 

That  sinking  the  Coin  is  a  dangerous  Joke. 

The  Irish,  dear  joys,  have  enough  Common  Sense, 

To  treat  Gold  reduc'd  like  Wood's  Copper  Pence. 

'Tis  pity  a  Prelate  should  die  without  Law; 

But  if  I  say  the  Word  .  .  .    Take  care  of  Armagh. 

Swift's  own  birthday  poem  to  himself  was  copied 
into  the  Gazette^'^  from  The  London  Magazine  for 
December,  1736.  And  it  is  just  possible  that  Vir- 
ginians took  a  special  interest  in  Dean  Swift  from 
the  vague  plan  of  about  twenty  years  before,  that 
he  should  be  appointed  Bishop  of  Virginia,  with  a 
sort  of  Metropolitan  authority  over  the  Colonial 
clergy.  The  idea  was  probably  a  suggestion  of  his 
friend  Colonel  Hunter,  on  his  own  appointment  as 
Governor  of  Virginia  in  1708.  Naturally  he  would 
have  liked  his  distinguished  friend's  company  in  the 
new  world.  But  the  suggestion  never  took  root,  and 
Colonel  Hunter  was  himself  captured  by  the  French 
on  his  voyage  across  the  Atlantic.  His  commission 
was  saved  from  the  enemy,  later,  and  its  remarkably 
fine  script  is  now  preserved  in  the  rooms  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Historical  Society. 

But  the  great  Dean  is  by  no  means  the  only  Irish 
personality  of  interest  to  readers  of  The  Virginia 
Gazette.  We  have  seen  that  they  were  acquainted 
with  Dr.  Thomas  Sheridan's  Intelligencer.  After 
his  death  the  obituary  appreciation  from  Dublin  was 
copied  into  the  Gazette,^^  along  with  a  humorous 

«  No.  32,  March  11,  1736-37. 
«» No.  130,  January  26,  1738-39. 


222    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

epitaph.  The  serious  little  prose  essay  describes 
him  in  the  well-known  fashion  as  ^'a  most  sincere 
Friend,  a  delightful  Companion,  and  the  best  School- 
master in  Europe";  also  as  the  ^'best  natured  Man 
in  the  World."  None  of  Ms  scholars,  we  are  told, 
was  ever  an  atheist  or  a  free-thinker. 

In  The  Virginia  Gazette,  as  in  most  other  colonial 
papers,  entire  essays  or  acts  of  plays,  and  even 
whole  plays  were  reprinted  serially  when  the  origi- 
nal publication  could  be  imported  in  convenient 
form,  in  one  volume.  Such  would  not  be  the  case 
of  course,  with  the  current  English  weeklies.  But 
a  little  dramatic  satire  like  Dodsley's  Toy  Shop 
could  be  very  easily  cut  up  into  several  parts  to  fill 
the  front  page  of  successive  Gazettes.  Parks  began 
the  Toy  Shop  on  April  15,  1737,  and  in  the  next 
number  of  his  Gazette  informed  his  readers  that  the 
conclusion  must  be  deferred  for  lack  of  room.  Lit- 
erature was  only  resorted  to  when  the  news  failed. 
In  the  following  number,  however,^^  the  Toy  Shop 
takes  three  entire  pages  out  of  four.  It  had  been 
published  in  The  South  Carolina  Gazette  in  four  in- 
stalments more  than  a  year  before,"^^  so  whether 
Parks  copied  it  from  the  Charleston  weekly,  or 
whether  he  imported  it  directly  from  London,  it  is 
impossible  to  say;  probably  from  London,  however. 
The  Prompter'^^  had  rightly  characterized  the  piece 
as  ** without  any  theatrical  merit  whatsoever," 
though  it  had  been  acted  at  Covent  Garden.  The 
colonial  press  reprinted  it  merely  as  moral  satire. 

"'  See  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  39,  April  29,  1737. 

'"  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  Nos.  104,  107,  108,  109. 

"  The  English  periodical  of  that  name,  No.  29,  February  18,  1735. 


THE    VIKGINIA    GAZETTE  223 

In  the  case  of  Addison's  Cato  there  was  immense 
interest  in  the  actual  theatrical  performance  in  both 
Williamsburg  and  Charleston,  yet  the  moral  and  lit- 
erary aspects  made  perhaps  an  equally  profound 
impression.  In  The  Virginia  Gazette  of  November 
19,  1736,  we  find  a  portion  of  the  fifth  act  of  Cato 
reprinted  under  the  title  of  Cato  and  Ms  Genius, 
beginning  with  the  words  of  the  Genius : 

Awful  Hero,  Cato,  rise ! 

Addison,  in  fact,  had  never  lost  his  hold  anywhere 
in  the  colonies.  The  essay  on  the  Spectator  model 
constantly  appeared  along  with  the  later  modes. 
The  Virginia  Gazette  has  its  full  share  of  moraliz- 
ing on  death,  marriage,  true  happiness,  envy,  malice 
and  discontent,  whether  in  the  form  of  the  fictitious 
letter  to  the  editor,  or  merely  by  way  of  the  week's 
editorial.  The  Addisonian  letter  is,  however,  not 
the  best  kind  of  contribution  to  be  found  in  the 
Gazette,  as  we  have  seen,  though  there  are  several 
fairly  good  instances  of  it  in  1737  and  1738. 

Philo-Gunaicus  sends  some  ^ '  unpolish  'd  Thoughts ' ' 
on  the  proper  behavior  of  women,'-  advising  them 
in  the  old  familiar  way  to  be  modest  in  their  apparel, 
not  wearing  every  fashionable  trinket.  Above  all 
they  had  better  not  try  to  manage  their  husbands. 
Two  weeks  later,'^  comes  a  spirited  reply  from 
Andromache,  hinting  that  perhaps  idle  coxcombs 
deserve  animadversions  as  well  as  frivolous  ladies. 
^^A  good  Husband  makes  a  good  Wife,"  she  re- 
marks pointedly,  and  continues:  "There  are  several 


"See  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  42,  May  20,  1737. 
"  Ibid.,  No.  44,  June  3,  1737. 


224    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Ladies  of  my  acquaintance  who  have  read  the  Spec- 
tator on  the  same  Subject,  and  for  the  Most  Part 
admir'd  yours  as  incomparable  Peices,  but  since 
this  Gentleman  has  appeared  in  Print,  those  Letters, 
for  anything  I  know,  may  be  lay'd  aside  as  trifling 
and  vain;  in  short,  I'm  inclined  to  pitty  poor  Mr. 
Addison,  and  Steel,  when  I  observe  a  Genius  so 
much  exceeding  theirs.  I  hope  such  Thoughts  as 
these  will  encourage  Mr.  G. —  to  oblige  us  with  more 
of  his  Performances.''  This,  of  course,  is  strong 
enough  evidence  that  Philo-Gunaicus  had  been  at- 
tempting the  Addisonian  essay. 

A  better  example,  combined  with  some  local  color, 
is  furnished  by  Tom  Tell  Truth's  letter  to  Mr. 
Parks^^  on  the  vicious  practice  of  opening  the  Eng- 
lish mail.  His  essay  begins  in  regular  Addisonian 
style  with  a  motto  from  Cicero 's  De  Natura  Deorum, 
but  soon  attains  a  vitality  of  its  own.  ^'The  other 
Day  calling  at  a  Public  House,"  he  begins,  ^^a  Box 
of  Letters  came  from  on  Board  a  Ship  lately  arrived 
from  England;  .  .  .  having  no  Concern  myself 
(from  the  Misfortune  of  out-living  my  Friends)  I 
took  my  Place  in  a  Corner  of  the  Room,  when  of  a 
sudden  a  Person  snatches  up  a  Letter,  reads  the 

Superscription,  To .     ^Egad,'  says  he,  ^I  must 

Know  the  Contents  of  this,' — and  made  off." 

Even  more  direct  evidence  of  the  continued  influ- 
ence of  Addisonian  prose  occurs  as  late  as  1739 
when  the  one  hundred  and  second  number  of  the 
Guardian  is  taken  bodily  into  the  Gazette/^  with  an 

'*  See  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  88,  April  7,  1738, 

"No.  158,  August  10,  1739. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  225 

introduction  in  which  the  reader  is  told  that  the 
Guardians y  Tatlers,  and  Spectators  are  inexhaust- 
ible treasures  for  the  promotion  of  learning,  and  the 
suppression  of  vice. 

In  a  general  way  several  controversial  papers  of 
1738  on  the  tobacco  inspection  conform  to  the  Spec- 
tator model,  although  the  discussion  has  really  too 
sharp  an  edge  for  anything  like  Addisonian  urban- 
ity. There  is  the  outward  form  of  the  essay  under 
fictitious  signatures,  and  there  is  a  mere  semblance 
of  pleasantry  in  the  bitter  ridicule.  Timothy  Touch- 
Truth  advocates"^  a  strict  inspection  of  tobacco  and 
the  actual  production  of  less  in  order  to  maintain  a 
higher  price  in  the  London  market.  This  policy 
was  known  as  the  ^' stint."  Morforeo  replies^^  with 
a  ridiculous  life  history  of  Mr.  Timothy  Touch- 
Truth,  who,  he  says,  was  born  in  the  Cripplegate 
district  of  London,  of  honest  parents,  but  ran  away 
from  school  after  learning  ''to  write  and  cypher." 
At  twenty-one  he  set  up  for  a  great  politician  and 
projector,  and  is  at  present  writing  a  new  system 
of  algebra.  "He  made  the  first  Model  of  a  Chaise 
that  would  run  with  one  Wheel";  and  since  he  be- 
lieves that  all  the  disadvantages  in  traffic  consist  in 
bulky  goods,  "proposes  that  the  Gauge  of  a  Tobacco 
Hogshead  should  be  reduced  to  the  Size  of  a  Butter- 
Firkin.  ' ' 

Touch-Truth's  answer'^  is  rather  mild  and  con- 
descending in  tone.  The  low  esteem  which  he  has 
for  the  praise  of  this  world,  he  says,  makes  Mr. 

"Ibid.,  No.  105,  August  4,  1738. 
"Ibid.,  No.  106,  August  11,  1738. 
'«Ibid.,  No.  114,  October  6,  1738. 
16 


226    LITERAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Morforeo's  piece  rather  ^  ^  delightful  than  vexa- 
tious/' since  he  has  made  himself  ridiculous  rather 
than  his  foe.  Touch-Truth  proceeds  to  perpetrate 
some  wretched  doggerel  which  certainly  puts  him  in 
a  more  absurd  position  than  it  does  Morf  oreo.  Then 
he  becomes  serious,  and  defends  his  course  as  meant 
to  '^  raise  up  those  fainting  Spirits,  who  have  long 
laboured  under  the  weight  of  their  misfortunes/' 
He  believes  thoroughly  in  his  method  of  changing 
the  inspection. 

Morforeo,  not  to  be  daunted,  insists^^  that  Touch- 
Truth  could  not  have  written  his  last  production, 
for  Dr.  Annod^me  had  forbidden  him  to  touch  pen 
to  paper,  on  account  of  his  serious  illness  in  the 
head.  The  present  writer  (of  Touch-Truth's  last 
paper)  "is  a  Stranger  to  the  Sense  of  what  he  has 
wrote,  and  to  Mr.  Touch-Truth  as  well,  tho'  he  imi- 
tates his  obscure  Style  pretty  well."  The  colonists 
must  not  be  stirred  to  a  dislike  of  existing  laws. 
At  length  the  whole  bantering  controversy  is  ended 
by  a  sensible  letter  from  '^a  planter"  against  the 
stint  advocated  by  Touch-Truth. 

The  Virginia  Historical  Society's  excellent  file 
of  the  Gazette  extends  only  to  1740.  There  follows 
a  gap  of  ten  years  for  which  no  single  copy  is  known 
to  exist.  After  1750  the  New  York  Public  Library 
takes  up  the  tale  with  a  fairly  complete  file  of  the 
years  1751  and  1752.  And  scattering  files  of  still 
later  date  are  to  be  found  in  Virginia.  All  these  lie 
outside  our  period.  But  it  happens  that  the  literary 
character   of  Virginia's   weekly   was   well   enough 

"  See  The  Virginia  Gazette,  No.  116,  October  20,  1738. 


THE    VIRGINIA   GAZETTE  227 

established  for  other  newspapers  between  1740  and 
1750,  and  even  the  first  American  magazines,  to 
quote  from  it.  The  Boston  Weekly  News-Letter,  of 
no  literary  pretensions  whatever,  quotes  a  story  of 
Sir  "William  Temple^^  from  The  Virginia  Gazette  as 
late  as  1747. 

The  first  number  of  Franklin 's  monthly.  The  Gen- 
eral Magazine  and  Historical  Chronicle  for  all  the 
British  Plantations  in  America,^'^  introduces  its  lit- 
erary section  under  the  heading  Essays  on  various 
Subjects^  from  the  News-Papers  published  in  the 
Colonies.  Just  here  we  have  an  important  bit  of 
evidence  that  newspapers  were  expected  to  offer 
essays  and  other  literary  material  to  the  public. 
The  first  newspaper  which  Franklin  culls  from  for 
his  new  magazine  is  The  Virginia  Gazette.  So  in 
this  incidental  and  hitherto  unnoted  way,  we  have 
a  few  selections  of  later  date  from  Parks 's  paper. 
The  first  one  shows  the  continued  interest  in  trans- 
lations from  the  classics,  as  well  as  the  Addisonian 
form  of  introduction. 

Mr.  Parks, 

Reading  'tother  Day,  for  my  Amusement,  in  Ovid's 
Remedy  of  Love,  I  happened  to  come  across  a  Passage 
therein,  where  the  Author,  (speaking  of  himself  in  the 
first  Person)  relates  a  very  Singular  Cure  that  befel  him 
in  the  Course  of  his  Amours ;  and  from  his  own  experience 
of  its  Success,  recommends  it  to  his  Love-sick  Readers.  I 
must  confess  I  was  so  taken  with  the  Oddness  of  his 
Method,  that  I  could  not  help  attempting  a  Translation,  or 
at  least  an  Imitation  of  the  Passage  in  English,  which  I 

^  See  The  Boston  WeeUy  News-Letter,  August  13,  1747. 
^  Published  in  Philadelphia  in  January,  1741. 


228    LITER.VEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPEES 

here  send  you,  together  with  the  Original,  to  be  inserted 
in  your  next  Gazette,  if  you  think  it  merits  a  Place  there. 

•     •     • 

Yours, 


The  translation  follows.  Again  in  the  May  num- 
ber of  The  General  Magazine,  among  the  Poetical 
Essays,  we  find  quoted  in  full  from  The  Virginia 
Gazette,  a  Translation  of  Mr.  Addison's  Latin 
Poem  on  a  Picture  of  the  Resurrection,  in  Magdalen 
College  Chappel  at  Oxford. 

The  wond'rous  Draught,  the  Pencil's  daring  Stroke, 
The  rising  Dead,  the  Judge's  awful  Look, 
The  Spectre's  ghastly  Form,  and  pallid  Face, 
Dread  Pomp  to  view,  and  difficult  to  trace; 
Unfold,  my  Muse,  with  more  than  mortal  Flame ; 
The  Theme  is  sacred,  be  the  Verse  the  same. 

Great  as  the  contemporary  admiration  for  Addi- 
son's prose  undoubtedly  was,  his  own  generation 
ranked  him  rather  as  a  poet.  It  is  not  at  all  uncom- 
mon to  find  him  grouped  with  Shakespere  and 
Milton. 

The  next  colonial  monthly.  The  American  Maga- 
zine and  Historical  Chronicle,  established  in  Boston 
in  1743,  takes  verses  from  The  Virginia  Gazette  of 
July  26,  1744,  into  the  August  number  of  the  maga- 
zine, 1744.  These  verses  on  the  Paper-Mill,  in- 
scribed to  Mr.  Parks,  are  certainly  of  Virginian 
origin,  though  the  fictitious  signature,  J.  Dumble- 
ton,  gives  no  clue  to  their  authorship.  They  have 
been  copied  into  The  Virginia  Magazine  of  History 
and  Biography^^  from  The  American  Magazine,^)^^^ 

"  Vol.  VII,  p.  442. 


THE    VIRGINIA    GAZETTE  229 

returning  in  a  somewhat  roundabout  way  to  their 
native  soil.  By  scattered  hints  and  chance  quota- 
tions in  other  journals,  then,  we  can  infer  that  The 
Virgiuia  Gazette  lost  nothing  of  its  general  literary 
flavor  from  1740  to  1750. 

The  extant  files,  as  we  have  seen,  furnish  a  variety 
of  excellent  prose,  and  tolerable  verse.  Much  of  the 
prose  could  stand  comparison  with  the  best  pieces 
of  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  while  it  would  be  a 
poor  compliment  to  the  verse  in  The  Virginia 
Gazette  even  to  compare  it  with  that  in  any  other 
early  colonial  weekly,  except  the  Charleston  paper. 
Surely  these  facts  are  enough  to  dispel  that  faintly 
inquisitive  lift  of  the  eyebrow  with  which  literary 
historians  have  often  greeted  any  reference  to 
Southern  literature. 


Km 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  South  Cakolina  Gazette 

^^It  has  long  been  known  that  Benjamin  Franklin's 
journalistic  enterprises  were  not  confined  to  the 
Qit>  province  of  Pennsylvania.  He  frequently  furnished 
the  capital  for  able  young  journeymen  to  equip 
printing  houses  in  distant  towns.  Thomas  White- 
Rf^^A  marsh,  for  instance,  a  composiior  wiijom_I^nklin 
M^^,  had  known  in  London,  came  to  Philadelphia  and 
proved  his  ability  in  Franklin's  business  to  such  an,, 
extent  that  Franklin  decided  to  send  him  to  Charles- 
ton. Here  he  was  to  establish  a  printing  house,  and, 
if  possible,  a  newspaper.  Franklin  noted  in  his 
journal  that  Whitemarsh  ^^  arrived  in  Charlestown 
the  29th  of  September,  1731,  at  night,  so  our  Part- 
nership there  begins  October  1,  1731."  The  first 
number  of  The  South  Carolina  Gazette  was  issued 
on  January  8,  1731-32./ 

These  facts  have  often  been  commented  upon  as 
evidence  of  Franklin's  foresight  and  enterprise  in 
business.  What  seems  to  have  escaped  notice  is  the 
literary  influence  which  could  be  inferred  from  the 
facts,  and  which  an  examination  of  The  South  Caro- 
lina Gazette  fully  establishes.  Franklin's  fellow- 
compositor  in  London,  his  able  assistant  in  Philadel- 
phia at  the  time  of  Franklin's  best  imitative  writ- 
ing, must  have  imbibed  his  employer's  enthusiasms. 
And  we  should  expect  to  find  Whitemarsh  imitating 

230 


THE    SOUTH    CAKOLINA    GAZETTE  231 

Franklin;  that  is  to  say,  imitating  his  imitation  of 
Addison.    This  is  precisely  what  we  do  find. 

Even  after  The  South  Carolina  Gazette  had  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Louis  Timothee,  a  French  refugee, 
the  cordial  business  relations  with  Franklin  were 
not  severed.  Louis  Timothee,  or  Timothy,  as  he  was 
soon  called,  had  a  son,  Peter  Timothy,  who  carried 
on  the  paper  and  left  it  in  his  turn  to  a  son,  Benjamin 
Franklin  Timothy.  From  1792  to  1800,  Benjamin 
Franklin  Timothy  edited  the  Gazette,  showing  both 
in  name  and  work,  the  influence  of  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin on  American  journalism. 

It  will  not  be  surprising,  then,  to  find  in  the  first 
number  of  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  an  Addi- 
sonian editorial  inviting  communications,  '^  whether 
in  Prose  or  Verse,''  every  Saturday,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ^'interspersing  the  Dulce  with  the  Utile.'' 
One  condition  is  imposed,  however,  on  all  corre- 
spondents. They  must  carefully  ''avoid  giving 
Offence,  either  publick,  or  private;  and  particu- 
larly, .  .  .  forbear  all  Controversies,  both  in  Church 
and  State." 

It  is  probable  that  Whitemarsh  himself,  or  some 
member  of  his  staff,  wrote  the  letter  of  the  following 
week,^  signed  Martia.  We  can  hardly  suppose  that 
any  Charleston  writer  would  have  responded  in  a 
manner  so  like  Franklin's,  to  the  invitation  of  the 
first  number.  Many  of  Franklin's  best  early  pieces 
were  avowedly  letters  from  members  of  the  fair  sex. 
It  was  his  favorite  device  for  expressing  his  homely 
wisdom.    And  this  letter  from  Martia  in  the  South 

^  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  2,  January  15,  1731-32. 


232    LITEKAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

Carolina  weekly  is  an  attempt  at  sometMng  of  the 
same  sort.  Nor  is  the  Spectator  forgotten.  Martia  's 
first  sentences  give  direct  evidence  that  Whitemarsh 
intended  to  imitate  Addison.  ^^I  suppose,''  she  is 
made  to  say,  "you  don't  expect  your  Correspond- 
ents to  give  you  their  respective  characters  at  full 
length,  in  the  manner  of  that  you'd  fain  pass  upon 
us  for  your  own."  She  proceeds,  however,  to  tell 
us  that  she  is  a  young  lady  of  sixteen,  before  she 
begins  her  essay  on  Levity  in  Conversation.  Very 
sensibly  she  then  urges  that  this  will  never  bring  a 
man  reputation.  Her  motive  in  writing,  she  acknowl- 
edges, may  seem  obscure,  but  "your  Wonder,  Sir, 
must  cease,  when  I  tell  you,  that  one  of  these  Sparks 
is  my  Brother,  and  that  another  of  'em  stands  so 
fair  in  my  opinion,  that  I  can  see  no  other  Blemish 
in  his  Conduct,  than  what  has  been  here  hinted  at." 

The  following  week^  a  facetious  reply  was  pub- 
lished in  a  letter  from  Rattle  to  Miss  Martia 's  Papa. 
Rattle  is  convinced  that  some  warning  is  necessary. 
"Faith,  old  Gentleman,  you  have  got  a  very  pretty 
forward  Lass  for  a  Daughter.  ...  A  hopeful  Girl, 
upon  my  Word!"  He  advises  Papa  "not  to  let  my 
little  Angel  stir  abroad  unmask 'd."  Since  he  per- 
ceives, however,  that  the  poor  girl  has  a  mind  to  a 
husband,  he  may  possibly  become  "sedate  or  tame 
enough  to  be  made  her  loving  Dear  for  Life. ' '  The 
attempt  to  create  character  and  situation  is  evident 
in  letters  of  this  sort. 

The  same  number  of  the  Gazette  has  an  entertain- 
ing apology  for  scribblers.     Perhaps  the  idea  of 

'January  22,  1731-32. 


THE    SOUTH    CAKOLINA    GAZETTE  233 

literary  essays  in  a  weekly  gazette  had  been  ridi- 
culed by  aristocratic  gentlemen  of  Charleston,  but 
more  probably  the  accusation  which  serves  as  a  text 
is  merely  a  humorous  fiction.  After  the  motto  from 
Terence  m  due  form,  the  essayist  proceeds  to  inform 
us  that  gentlemen  "of  polite  Taste"  have  been  mak- 
ing fun  of  scribblers  as  "idle  Fellows,  driven  plaguy 
hard  for  a  Dinner.'^  The  writer  denies  this  accusa- 
tion, and  brings  a  counter  charge  against  gaming, 
the  "idle  Sport"  of  the  rich. 

With  number  four  of  the  Gazette,  hegins  a  remark- 
able series  of  reprints  of  entire  numbers  of  the 
Spectator.  In  no  other  newspaper  of  the  period  are 
such  reprints  so  continuous.  Whitemarsh  must 
have  had  a  full  set  of  the  Spectator  in  his  office  to 
draw  from  at  a  moment's  notice.  Usually  a  corre- 
spondent is  supposed  to  send  the  selection,  which 
emanated  in  all  probability  from  the  editorial  office. 
In  the  case  of  the  introductory  letter  of  Honestus, 
in  number  four,  we  have  direct  evidence  that  the 
Gazette  was  attempting  to  imitate  as  well  as  to  cir- 
culate the  Spectator.  The  brief  note  of  Honestus 
runs  as  follows : 

Sir, 

Not  being  so  expert  a  Scribbler  as  those  you  are  concern 'd 
with,  I  pretend  not  to  send  you  the  Efforts  of  my  own  Pen, 
yet  I  expect  you  to  insert  what  follows,  which  I  have  taken 
from  a  Writer  whom  I  wou'd  advise  your  good  Friends  to 
endeavour  (if  they  can)  to  imitate;  if  'tis  so  bad  with  'em 
that  they  can't  possibly  get  the  better  of  their  cacoethes 
scribendi. 

Honestus. 


234    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Then  follows  the  essay  on  the  tradesman's  reputa- 
tion, taken  verbatim  from  the  Spectator,^  and  re- 
printed in  full.  The  constant  interest  in  affairs  of 
the  business  world  is  worth  noting  in  this  little  South 
Carolina  weekly. 

But  now  Martia  appears^  again,  promising  con- 
tritely to  be  less  bold  in  future.  And  her  apology 
is  quickly  followed  by  a  warning  against  scandal 
and  personal  censure  from  Publicola.  Publicola 
admits,  however,  that  censure  is  the  tribute  which 
all  men  must  pay  for  being  conspicuous.  ^^This  is 
a  Maxim  of  so  long  standing  and  advanced  by  so 
good  an  Author,  that  I  doubt  not  but  you're  ac- 
quainted with  it,"  he  says.  The  maxim  is  Swift's. 
But  no  doubt  it  came  to  Publicola  by  way  of  the 
Spectator,  who  quotes  the  saying.^  The  editor 
gravely  and  decorously  acknowledges  Publicola 's 
letter,  and  adds:  ^'Like  our  fair  Correspondent,^ 
...  we  shall  be  glad  to  be  instructed  how  to  behave 
when  (as  Johnny  Gay  says,) 

'  If  you  mention  Vice  or  Bribe, 

'Tis  so  pat  to  all  the  Tribe, 

Each  cries — that  was  levell'd  at  me.'  " 

This  familiarity  with  Gay  is  only  the  first  instance 
of  the  free  use  of  the  eighteenth-century  poets  in 
the  Charleston  weekly. 

All  the  essays  and  letters  that  we  have  now  ex- 
amined  occur   in   the   first   four   numbers    of   the 

^Spectator,  No.  218. 

*  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  4,  January  29,  1731-32. 
^Spectator,  No.   101.     "  'Censure,'  says  a  late  ingenious  Author, 
'  is  the  tax  a  man  pays  to  the  public  for  being  eminent. '  ' ' 
"  Martia. 


THE  SOUTH  CAKOLINA  GAZETTE         235 

Gazette.  Certainly  the  amount  of  literary  material 
to  the  issue  is  extraordinarily  large,  even  for  a 
colonial  newspaper  of  this  period.  The  quality  (our 
present  concern  is  with  the  prose  only)  is  not  much 
above  the  average  eighteenth-century  imitation  of 
Addison,  except,  possibly,  in  the  liveliness  of  some 
character  sketches. 

In  number  five  Honestus  resumes  his  selections 
from  the  ''same  excellent  writer."  This  time  he 
chooses  the  Spectator's  remarks  on  idleness."^ 
Lucretia  sends  a  letter  on  vice  the  following  week,^ 
quoting  Honestus'  "own  favorite  author's''  version 
of  the  seventh  chapter  of  Proverbs,  "being  the  De- 
scription of  a  Harlot."  Lucretia  took  Addison's 
lines  from  the  Spectator.^ 

Mary  Meanwell's  letter  is  one  of  the  best  in  the 
Gasette,^^  Her  very  name  is  familiar  to  us  in  the 
Spectator, ^^  and  her  character  of  bigoted,  ill-natured 
devotee  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  Addison's 
portrayal  of  the  same  character.^-  We  quote  a  por- 
tion of  Mary  Meanwell's  letter. 

''To  THE  Gentlemen  News- Writers  in  Charles  Town. 

GentlemeTiy 

I  am  one  of  that  uncouth  Sort  of  Females,  which  your 
forward  young  Flirts  call — an  old  Maid.  Yet,  you  must 
know,  I  am  not  much  turn'd  of  Forty  neither.  ...  I  have 
endeavoured  to  be  profitable  as  to  the  next  world,  and 

''Spectator,  No.  316. 

"February  12,  1731-32. 

« Spectator,  No.  410. 

"No.  8,  February  26,  1731-32. 

"No.  208. 

"In  Spectator,  No.  354. 


236    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

attend  divine  Worship  regularly.  Which  now  affords  me 
the  Occasion  of  troubling  you  with  This,  to  let  you  know 
that  notwithstanding  the  profitable  Hints  that  have  been 
heretofore  given  the  World,  by  that  great  Predecessor  of 
Yours,  the  Spectator,  there  is  still  subsisting  the  same 
Offence  to  Us  who  wou'd  fain  be  attentive  to  our  Duty  in 
Places  appointed  for  that  Purpose,  as  in  his  Days.  ...  I 
have  the  Misfortune  to  sit  in  the  next  Pew  to  a  parcel  of 
Girls  and  young  Fellows,  who  are,  three  Parts  of  the  Ser- 
vice, Giggling  and  Prating." 

After  thus  delicately  introducing  the  Spectator  as 
a  predecessor, the editormodestly disclaims  attempt- 
ing to  succeed  the  Spectator  in  a  brief  editorial  post- 
script to  Mary  Meanweirs  letter.  He  even  fears 
that  ^^we  may  be  looked  upon  as  Medlers  in  other 
Men's  Business;  we  not  pretending  to  the  Abilities 
or  Authority  of  Him,  whom  the  Lady  (in  too  high  a 
Strain  of  Compliment  to  us)  calls  our  Predecessor.'' 
Of  course  the  modest  disclaimer  only  draws  more 
attention  to  Addison. 

The  following  number^  ^  presents  a  lesson  for  the 
fair  sex,  from  the  Spectator,  with  a  brief  introduc- 
tory notice  addressed  To  the  Author  of  the  Gazette. 
The  word  author  is  in  itself  a  noteworthy  indication 
of  what  the  Gazette  was  attempting  to  do.  The 
notice  begins: 

''Sir, 

As  the  Character  of  Emilia,  which  I  have  taken  the  Pains 
to  transcribe,  may  be  of  general  Service  to  all  the  Fair  Sex, 
for  their  Imitation,  ...  I  cou'd  wish  you  wou'd  give  it  a 
Place  in  your  Paper.  ...  I  need  not  tell  you  from  whence 
I  have  taken  it." 

"No.  9,  March  4,  1731-32. 


THE  SOUTH  CAKOLINA  GAZETTE         237 

The  three  hundred  and  second  Spectator  follows 
the  introductory  remarks.  In  this  number  of  the 
Spectator  we  have  the  characters  of  Emilia  and 
Honoria, — light  and  darkness — contrasted. 

But  it  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  instances  of 
quotations  or  reprints  from  the  Spectator,  All 
through  the  earlier  years  of  the  Gazette,  we  con- 
stantly meet  with  ^^some  useful  Hints  from  great 
Authority/'^"*  or  a  '^Letter  and  Eeport  which  I 
have  borrowed  from  a  Writer  you  seem  to  be  pretty 
well  acquainted  with,"^^  or  again,  the  '^Thoughts  of 
one  of  the  politest  Authors  of  the  Age,  on  this  Sub- 
ject/'^'^  Frequently  Addison  is  mentioned.  ''My 
Quotation,  as  you  justly  observed,  was  from  the 
ingenious  Mr.  Addison.  "^^  In  one  interesting  in- 
stanced^ the  reprint  of  a  Spectator  paper ^^  is  com- 
bined with  an  introductory  essay  of  which  a  large 
part  is  copied  word  for  word  from  Bradford's  Mer- 
cury of  October  9,  1735.  Thus  we  have  incidental 
confirmation  of  the  fact  that  a  close  relation  existed 
between  newspaper  editors  of  Charleston  and  those 
of  Philadelphia.  Whitemarsh  began  the  introduc- 
tory paragraph  under  discussion  in  The  South  Caro- 
lina Gazette  by  remarking  to  his  readers : 

"For  want  of  Foreign  News,  when  I  insert  what  I  think 
may  be  useful  to  Mankind  in  general,  I  don't  think  it 
material  from  what  Parts  such  Pieces  come ;  tho '  to  satisfy 

"See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  10,  March  11,  1731-32. 

« Ibid.,  No.  12,  March  25,  1732. 

"Ibid.,  No.  44,  November  18,  1732. 

"Ibid.,  No.  114,  April  3,  1736. 

"  Ibid.,  No.  112,  March  20,  1735-36. 

"  Spectator,  No.  441. 


238    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

the  more  curious,  the  following  is  of  the  late  Mr.  Addison, 

the  justness  of  whose  Sentiments — '* 

The  unacknowledged  quotation  from  the  Mercury 
begins  with  'Hhe  justness  of  whose  Sentiments''  and 
continues  to  the  end  of  the  paragraph,  including  the 
reference  to  Addison's  superiority  to  Toland.  We 
have  already  given  the  paragraph  from  the  Mercury 
in  a  previous  chapter.^^ 

The  unbroken  file  of  The  South  Carolina  Gazette 
in  the  possession  of  the  Charleston  Library  Society 
shows  us  that  so  late  as  1746  and  1750,  extracts  from 
Addison  were  still  used  by  newspaper  editors.  In 
the  Gazette  of  January  11,  1746,  we  read:  ^'The 
following  extract  from  Mr.  Addison's  Remarks  on 
several  Parts  of  Italy,  I  hope  will  be  favourably 
received  by  my  Eeaders  at  This  Time.  That  inge- 
nious Author,  in  his  remarks  on  Switzerland  (P.  286, 
287,  288)  says — ."  Then  follows  the  long  quotation. 
And  in  1750,  the  last  year  which  the  present  investi- 
gation will  cover,  the  Gazette' oi  April  9  reprints  the 
four  hundred  and  fifty-sixth  Spectator. 

Meanwhile  the  ordinary  essay  in  imitation  of  the 
Addisonian  model  continues  throughout  the  period. 
We  shall  not  pause  over  the  numerous  treatments 
of  hackneyed  topics  like  pride,  death,  the  power  of 
silence,  and  so  on.^^  There  are  a  few  original  essays, 
however,  which  demand  separate  notice.  Among 
them  is  the  sprightly  letter  from  Penelope  Aspen,^^ 
accusing  the  essayists  of  trying  to  engross  all  the 

^'Vide  supra,  chapter  III,  p.  87. 

"  See  Nos.  23,  25,  26,  34,  for  examples. 

°  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  24,  June  17,  1732. 


THE  SOUTH  CAKOLINA  GAZETTE         239 

talk  to  themselves :  ^  *  What ! ' '  she  exclaims,  ^  ^  debar 
us  from  those  sweet  Topicks  of  Conversation,  Dress, 
and  Fashions,  and  the  dear  delightful  Satisfaction 
of  railing  at  our  Neighbors?  Fie  upon  ye,  even 
Addison  himself,  were  he  here,  dared  not  to  have 
said  so  much. '  ^ 

But  perhaps  more  noteworthy  in  some  respects 
than  individual  papers  is  the  series  of  essays  pur- 
porting to  come  from  the  members  of  a  certain 
Meddlers'  Club.  Probably  the  editorial  staff  was 
primarily  responsible  for  the  Meddlers'  Club 
papers,  since  they  show  the  influence  of  Franklin's 
Busy-Body y  as  well  as  that  of  the  Spectator  Club. 
Yet,  in  reality,  they  offer  nothing  but  a  burlesque 
on  all  serious  essay  writing,  until  the  series  is 
abruptly  cut  short  after  the  third  number  by  the 
irate  letter  of  Diogenes  Eusticus.  We  have  only 
three  Meddlers  to  examine,  then,  and  since  they  are 
undoubtedly  of  Carolinian  origin,  they  deserve  a 
place  in  any  examination  of  the  native  literature  in 
early  periodicals. 

After  a  humorous  address  to  ^^Mr.  Lewis 
Timothy,"  the  first  essay  purporting  to  come  from 
the  Meddlers'  Club^^  proceeds  to  describe  the  club 
in  this  mocking  vein: 

''Among  the  innumerable  and  various  Clubs,  both  in 
Europe  and  America,  many  of  whom  the  famous  Spectator 
and  Tatler  give  an  Account  of,  I  know  of  none  by  the 
name  of  the  Meddlers'  Club.  This  name  I  believe  is  new, 
and  an  Original.  ...  It  is  not  long  since,  that  a  parcel  of 
young  illiterate  Fellows  assembled  together  and  erected  a 

"^  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  81,  August  16,  1735. 


240    LITEEAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPEKS 

Club  of  the  name  above  mentioned,  one  of  whom  I  have 
the  happiness  to  be.  We  consist  of  six  Persons  only,  and 
desire,  if  you  have  nothing  else  of  greater  moment,  to  insert 
this  in  your  Gazette.  .  .  .  And  although  the  highest  of  our 
Wit  does  not  come  up  to  that  of  a  Waterman's  Boy,  .  .  . 
yet  we  have  forsooth  set  up  for  Reformers,  ...  or 
Meddlers  of  Nobody's  business,  or  to  speak  plainer,  of 
everybody's:  For  we  have  set  that  refined  maxim  of  No- 
body's meaning  everybody;  though  we  shall  in  particular 
avoid  all  personal  Reflections,  and  don't  doubt  but  our 
Countrymen  will  be  as  well  pleased  to  see  the  Attempts  of 
Carolinians,  tho'  weak,  as  to  see  foreign  Pieces  of  more 
refined  Sense,  since  our  Intentions  are  good,  tho'  our 
Capacities  small." 

Franklin,  we  remember,  in  the  first  number  of  the 
Busy-Body,  had  said:  ^'what  is  every  Body's  Busi- 
ness is  Nobody's  Business;  and  the  Business  is 
done  accordingly.  I,  therefore,  upon  mature  De- 
liberation, think  fit  to  take  Nobody's  Business  wholly 
into  my  own  Hands."  Evidently  the  unknown 
writer  of  the  first  Meddler  had  Franklin's  idea  in 
mind.  The  very  meaning  of  the  word  is  not  far 
from  the  meaning  of  busy-body. 

The  description  of  the  club  members  is  a  kind  of 
travesty  on  the  Addisonian  model. 

"Imprimis.  .  .  .  Jack,  would  be  Taller:  for  tho'  he  is 
the  least  person  among  us,  yet  according  to  the  old  Proverb, 
of  little  head  great  Wit,  we  have,  and  I  hope  not  unjustly, 
thought  that  a  little  Body  must  have  most  Sense.  His 
Talent  consists  chiefly  in  contradicting  others,  and  (he) 
thinks  he  knows  more  than  all  the  Club ;  for  which  reason 
I  have  placed  him  first. 

''Item,  the  second  is  Tom  Snigger — his  Talent  consists 


THE  SOUTH  CAKOLINA  GAZETTE         241 

most  in  telling  Stories,  and  because  nobody  else  will,  laughs 
at  them  himself. 

"Item,  the  third  is  Dick  Haughty:  he  thinks  merit  no- 
where but  in  fine  Clothes,  but  is  otherwise  a  very  agreeable 
person." 

The  fourth  member,  Will  Generous,  and  the  fifth, 
Ealph  Hippo,  are  equally  absurd  characters,  and 
sixth  and  last  comes  Bob  Careless,  ''the  most  care- 
less Fellow  breathing,"  on  whom  the  other  members 
imposed  the  task  of  writing  the  first  Meddler,  ''be- 
cause,'' Bob  tells  us,  "it  was  in  opposition  to  my 
Temper,  and  in  all  I  have  said,  you  may  see  how 
carelessly  I  have  displayed  our  several  Talents." 
With  all  these  extraordinary  endowments,  we  are 
not  surprised  that  the  club,  as  Bob  Careless  puts  it, 
will  be  able  "to  divert  nobody  into  a  better  Opinion" 
of  it;  "for  we  have  resolved  not  to  meddle  with 
Church  or  State  Affairs,  but  to  learn  morality  our- 
selves (which  we  want,  God  knows)  satyrize  our 
Friends  and  speak  well  of  our  Enemies ! ' '  After  a 
paragraph  more  of  this  sort  of  wit.  Bob  Careless 
brings  the  first  Meddler  to  a  close,  signing  his  own 
name  "by  order  of  the  Club." 

Will  Generous  next  sends  an  accoimt  of  the  Club's 
last  proceedings. 2^  In  this  account  the  characters 
are  fairly  well  sustained.  Jack-would-be-taller 
says  he  wonders  that  most  people  should  j)retend 
to  know  all  the  matter  contained  in  a  book  upon  read- 
ing the  title.  Especially,  he  believes,  if  the  book  be 
written  by  a  poor  man,  the}^  will  call  it  a  heap  of 

'^  Meddler  No.  2,  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  82,  August  23,  1735. 
17 


242    LITEKAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

nonsense;  and,  in  general,  prefer  light  jests  to  re- 
fined morality. 

**  Tis  true,''  answers  Tom  Snigger,  ^^yet  'tis 
better  to  be  merry  than  sad."  For  his  part,  he  can 
tell  the  author  of  any  piece  by  the  humor  in  it,  and 
the  complexions  of  the  characters ! 

But  Dick  Haughty  immediately  questions  his 
friend  Snigger's  ability  to  discern  much  by  complex- 
ions, for  clothes  alter  complexions  so  materially  that 
a  man  in  rags  has  a  more  melancholy  aspect  than  a 
fine,  well-dressed  beau.  ^  ^  You  're  much  in  the  right, ' ' 
agrees  Ealph  Hippo.  So  the  conversation  continues. 
On  the  whole,  the  second  paper  sustains  fairly  well 
the  characterization  of  the  first. 

The  third  Meddler  gives  us  a  genuine  glimpse 
into  old  '^Charlestown."  Apparently  its  promenade 
by  the  sea  was  fully  as  much  enjoyed  then  as  now, 
for  Jack-would-be-taller  writes  an  amusing  animad- 
version on  The  Vice  of  the  Bay.'^^  ^^The  Vice  that 
was  debated  on  this  Evening,"  Jack  tells  us,  in  his 
account  of  a  meeting  of  the  club  ' '  altho '  'tis  plain  to 
the  whole  Town,  yet  is  so  little  minded,  or  else  so 
customary  that  'tis  unobserved  to  be  one,  is  the  Vice 
of  the  Bay." 

''Says  Dick  Haughty,  I  can't  help  taking  Notice  of  the 
great  Concourse  of  People  of  both  Sexes  that  assembles  on 
the  Bay  almost  every  Evening:  And  I  think  as  we  are 
Meddlers,  that  that  is  a  Topic  worthy  of  our  Observation; 
for  in  my  Opinion,  it  is  a  custom  that  will  never  resound  to 
the  Honour  of  Carolina,  and  tends  to  promote  Vice  and 
Irreligion  in  many  Degrees.     And  tho'  it  may  be  objected 

^  Meddler  No.  3,  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  83,  August  30,  1735. 


THE  SOUTH  CAROLINA  GAZETTE         243 

that  the  Heat  of  the  Climate  will  not  permit  them  to  walk 
in  the  Day,  and  it  can't  but  conduce  to  their  Health  to 
walk  and  take  the  Air;  yet  I  think  there  are  many  more 
fitting  places  to  walk  on  than  the  Bay:  For  have  we  not 
many  fine  Greens  near  the  Town  much  better  accom- 
modated for  Air,  than  a  place  which  continually  has  all  the 
nauseous  Smells  of  Tarr,  Pitch,  Brimstone  and  what  not, 
and  where  every  Jack  Tarr  has  the  Liberty  to  view  and 
remark  the  most  celebrated  Beauties  of  Charles  Town  ?  .  .  . 
"Your  Observation  is  right,  reply 'd  Will  Generous,  for  I 
have  heard  that  in  Great  Britain  the  Ladies  and  Gentlemen 
choose  the  Parks  and  such  like  Places  to  walk  and  take  the 
Air  in,  but  I  never  heard  of  any  Places  making  use  of  the 
"Wharfs  for  such  Purpose,  except  this,  and  in  my  humble 
Opinion  I  think  the  Greens  a  much  better  Place  than  the 
Bay." 

The  true  secret  of  the  objection  to  the  promenade 
by  the  sea  appears  to  be  that  ^ '  Cnpid  has  shot  more 
Darts  on  the  Bay  than  in  all  Carolina,'^  and  in  the 
development  of  this  idea,  the  essay  becomes  a  mere 
vulgar  harangue  against  ^'Sea  sparks."  But  the 
opening  paragraphs,  which  we  have  quoted,  show 
the  beginnings  of  social  satire  with  a  clear  attempt 
at  local  color,  and  it  is  almost  a  matter  for  regret 
that  the  letter  from  Diogenes  Eusticus,  in  the  fol- 
lowing number  of  the  Gazette,'^^  brings  the  Meddler 
Club  papers  to  an  abrupt  and  immediate  close.  The 
criticism  of  the  disgusted  Eusticus  is  fair  enough; 
the  absurdity  of  the  Meddlers  could  hardly  be  ex- 
aggerated, though  in  their  defence  it  must  be  said 
that  in  all  probability  they  were  intended  as  bur- 
lesque.   Eusticus  takes  "Every  Fool  is  Meddling"-'' 

«'No.  84,  September  6,  1735. 
''Proverbs  XX.  verse  3, 


244   LITERAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

for  the  text  of  a  vigorous  denunciation  which  inci- 
dentally reveals  the  difficulties  of  the  early  colonial 
editor's  situation.  The  opening  sentences  of  Eusti- 
cus  's  letter  deserve  quoting. 

' '  To  Mr.  Lewis  Timothy,  Printer  in  Charles-Town. 

Sir, 

Observing  for  some  time  past,  for  want  of  something 
either  foreign,  or  some  more  sprightly  Genius  among  our- 
selves to  fill  the  first  part  of  your  Papers,  that  you  have 
been  forced  to  compleat  your  Sheet  with  anything  that 
comes  to  hand,  I  (who  am  your  Subscriber  and  a  Caro- 
linian) thought  I  might  as  well  for  once  see  something  from 
myself  in  your  Paper,  at  a  time  when  it  has  been  lately 
fill'd  with  so  unedifying  and  impertinent  stuff,  from  a 
Club  rightly  by  themselves  termed  Meddlers.  ...  I  am 
sorry  that  they  think  so  much  of  their  own  parts,  that  they 
would  make  the  World  believe  they  were  Carolinians,  when 
their  Performance  is  so  void  of  Sense,  and  their  Design 
(if  I  may  so  call  it)  but  sprung  from  the  spurious  Issue  of 
a  boosy-bottle.  We  your  Subscribers  in  this  part  had  as 
lief  you  would  relate  the  celebrated  History  of  Jack  the 
Giant  Killer,  or  Tom  Thumb's  Exploits,  which  would  bring 
to  remembrance  the  Innocency  of  our  childish  Years,  when 
such  Trifles  were  relished." 

Probably  very  few  of  the  essays  hitherto  consid- 
ered were  written  by  Carolinians,  though  White- 
marsh  and  Timothy  may  have  had  a  few  Charleston 
friends.  But  when  we  turn  to  the  drama  in  Charles- 
ton, as  it  is  represented  in  the  Gazette,  we  find  be- 
yond a  doubt  the  prologues  and  epilogues  of  Caro- 
linian wits.  Charleston  had  its  theatrical  season  as 
a  matter  of  course,  and  plays  were  given  in  two 


THE  SOUTH  CAKOLINA  GAZETTE         245 

theaters,  the  Dock  Street  Theater  and  the  Queen 
Street  Theater,  as  well  as  occasionally  in  the  Court 
Eoom.  The  plays  themselves  were  probably  in 
every  instance  either  English  or  adaptations  from 
the  French,  but  the  prologues  and  epilogues  written 
for  London  performances  naturally  did  not  alto- 
gether suit  the  conditions  in  the  new  world.  We 
find,  then,  in  the  Gazette  of  February  8,  1734-35, 
what  is  probably  the  first  recorded  instance  of  a  pro- 
logue written  in  the  colonies,  describing  colonial 
conditions,  for  a  colonial  audience.  The  occasion 
was  a  presentation  of  Otway's  Orphan  on  January 
24,  1734^35,  and  the  prologue  dwells  at  length  on  the 
changes  from  the  wilderness  which  Columbus  found, 
to  the  '^ smiling  plenty'^  of  the  new  world  in  1735. 
The  material  prosperity  seemed  great  enough  to 
warrant  a  still  further  advance. 

Hence  we  presume  to  usher  in  those  Arts 

Which  oft  have  warm'd  the  best  and  bravest  Hearts. 

A  different  prologue,  for  a  performance  of  the 
Orphan  on  February  7,  is  also  given  in  full  in  the 
same  number  of  the  Gazette.  This  second  pro- 
logue is  important  for  several  reasons.  It  shows 
the  apologetic  attitude  which  lovers  of  drama,  even 
in  Charleston,  felt  compelled  to  assume.  Boston 
was  farther  from  Charleston  than  it  is  now,  but  not 
so  far  that  it  had  no  influence  upon  the  South.  All 
these  prologues  insist  on  the  moral  value  of  ^^what 
Addison  and  Shakespear  wrote,"  as  well  as  of  the 
Miser,  and  the  Orphan,  whose 


246    LITERAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

Tender  Scenes 
Have  mov'd  the  fairest  Nymphs  and  bravest  Swains. 

Two  weeks  later^^  an  epilogue  to  the  Orphan, 
*' spoken  after  the  Entertainment  at  Charlestown^' 
is  reprinted  in  full  in  the  Gazette.  And  this  epi- 
logue combines  an  apology  for  the  drama,  with  a 
stinging  allusion  to  the  Salem  witchcraft.  New 
England  had  begun  to  feel  the  witch  trials  as  a  dis- 
grace by  1735,  so  that  this  amusing  Charleston  epi- 
logue by  no  means  failed  of  its  point.  In  addition 
the  epilogue  contains  valuable  information  as  to  the 
plays  most  often  presented  in  Charleston.  We  quote 
the  more  important  passages. 

Epilogue  to  the  Orphan 

From  the  old  World  in  Miniature  we  shew 
Her  choicest  Pleasures  to  regale  the  new 
For  your  Delight  and  Use  has  Otway  wrote, 
And  pow'rful  Music  tunes  her  warbling  Throat. 

Thence  from  their  Graves  pale  Ghosts  arising  slow 
Shall  clear  the  injur 'd,  and  the  guilty  show. 
From  nobler  Themes  shall  loftier  Scenes  appear, 
And  Cato  urge  what  Senators  may  hear; 
Or  Congreve's  Drama  shake  the  laughing  Dome, 
With  wit  unmatch'd  by  Athens  or  by  Rome. 
The  little  Term  that  Heaven  to  Mortals  spares 
Is  daily  clouded  with  prolonging  Cares ; 
Nor  real  Virtue  blames  the  pleasing  Strife, 
To  blend  Amusement  with  the  Shades  of  Life ; 
Wise,  innocent,  serene,  she  smiles  at  Ease, 
Nor  hanging  Witches,  nor  abjuring  Plays. 

^February  22,  1734-35. 


THE  SOUTH  CAROLINA  GAZETTE         247 

From  these  lines  we  may  safely  infer  that  Hamlet 
and  Addison's  Cato  were  often  acted  in  Charleston. 
The  mention  of  '^what  Addison  and  Shakespear 
wrote"  in  the  second  prologue  to  the  Orphan  also 
shows  how  natural  was  the  association  of  Shakes- 
perian  tragedy  with  Cato,  and  strengthens  the  sup- 
position that  the  ^^pale  Ghosts  arising  slow''  to 
^^ clear  the  injur 'd  and  the  guilty  show"  indicate 
Hamlet.     The  next  couplet  in  the  epilogue, 

From  nobler  Themes  shall  loftier  Scenes  appear, 
And  Cato  urge  what  Senators  may  hear 

expresses  nothing  more  than  a  commonplace  dra- 
matic criticism  of  the  day.  Certainly  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic  Cato  was  hailed  not  only  as  ^^ nobler" 
and  ^'loftier"  than  Shakesperian  tragedy,  but  as  a 
moral  work  of  epoch-making  greatness. 

Discussions  of  the  ethical  problems  involved  in 
the  tragedy  were  especially  popular.  S.  C.  sends  an 
epilogue  to  Cato  to  the  Gazette,^^ — an  epilogue 
which  we  can  well  believe  ^^was  wrote  by  a  young 
man  .  .  .  about  17  years  of  Age,  for  his  own  amuse- 
ment." He  gravely  decides  that  Cato's  suicide 
*^was  brave,  nay  generous,  in  a  Heathen's  view," 
though  ^^our  better  Light  forbids  the  impious 
Crime."  The  epilogue  begins  jauntily  enough, 
however : 

"Well,  Sirs,  what  think  ye  now  of  Cato's  fate? 
Pray  was  his  Exit  pitiful,  or  great? 
Caesar  and  he  had  quite  a  different  Notion 
Cato  lov'd  Rome,  but  Caesar  lov'd  Promotion. 

**  September  5,  1743. 


248    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

On  the  whole,  we  cannot  blame  the  editor,  Timothy, 
for  his  note  at  the  close  of  this  epilogue;  ^'In  order 
to  oblige  S.  C.  I  have  inserted  the  above  Lines,  but 
desire,  when  that  Gentleman  shall  send  any  more, 
he  will  please  to  correct  them/' 

The  fact  that  neither  Hamlet  nor  Cato  happens 
to  be  noted  in  the  theatrical  advertisements  of  the 
Gazette  of  this  period  is  no  proof  whatever  that  they 
were  not  often  presented  in  Charleston.  The  Ga- 
zette was  published  weekly,  not  daily,  and  managers 
of  plays  advertised  in  its  columns  only  when  it  was 
especially  convenient  or  profitable.  For  instance, 
only  the  last  performance  of  The  London  Merchant 
is  announced  in  the  Gazette.  In  the  issue  of  March 
13,  1735-36,  we  read: 

At  the  New  Theatre  in  Queen  Street 
will  be  acted  on  Tuesday  next 

for  the  last  time, 
The  London  Merchant,  or  the 
History  of  George  Barnwell 
with  a  Farce,  called  The  Devil 
to  pay,  or,  the  Wives  Metamorphosed. 

Chance  notices  like  this  obviously  do  not  afford 
complete  information  as  to  all  the  plays  given. 
Farquhar's  Recruiting  Officer  was  certainly  a  fa- 
vorite. The  Gazette  of  January  31,  1735-36,  an- 
nounces that  ^^on  Thursday,  the  12th  of  February 
will  be  opened  the  New  Theatre  in  Dock  Street,  in 
which  will  be  performed  The  Comedy  called  The  Ee- 
cruiting  Officer."  The  next  year  on  May  21,  1737, 
we  find  a  notice  of  its  performance  in  the  Queen 
Street  theater.     The  same  theater  advertises  in  the 


THE  SOUTH  CAROLINA  GAZETTE         249 

Gazette  of  February  21,  1735-36,  that  there  ''will  be 
acted  on  Monday  next  A  Tragedy,  called  the  Or- 
phan/^ Thus  there  are  four  notices  of  The  Orphan 
within  a  year. 

The  lines  in  the  second  prologue  to  the  Orphan, 

No  carking  Miser  of  his  Teeth  afraid, 
His  shilling  sinks  to  see  the  Miser  play'd, 

suggest  the  familiarity  with  Moliere  which  we  know 
by  the  advertisements  of  books  existed;  and  there 
would  seem  to  be  some  probability  that  entertain- 
ments ultimately  of  French  origin  were  popular  in 
a  colony  where  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  were  of 
French  parentage.  The  pantomime  actors  of  the 
Commedia  dell 'Arte,  however,  who  played  the  gro- 
tesque adventures  of  Harlequin  and  Scaramouch  in 
the  public  court  room,  probably  brought  their  show 
directly  from  London,  since  these  characters  had 
become  common  there.^^ 

The  notice  of  the  pantomime  entertainment  in 
Charleston  shows  that  it  was  given  at  the  conclusion 
of  an  English  ojDera,  much  as  a  farce  like  The  Devil 
to  Pay  would  be  rendered  after  The  London  Mer- 
chant; and  the  entire  advertisement  is  worth  quot- 
ing.    It  occurs  in  the  Gazette  of  February  15, 1734-35. 

''On  Tuesday  the  18th  Inst,  will  be  presented  at  the 
Court-room,  the  Opera  of  Flora,  or  Hob  in  the  Well,^^  with 
the  Dance  of  the  two  Pierrots,  and  a  new  Pantomime  En- 
tertainment in  Grotesque  Characters,  called  The  Adven- 

^°  See  Genest's  Some  Account  of  the  English  Stage,  from  1660  to 
1830,  Vols.  II  and  III,  for  frequent  mention  of  Harlequin  and  Scara- 
mouch as  popular  characters. 

» Ibid.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  351. 


250    LITEKAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPEKS 

tures  of  Harlequin  and  Scaramouch,  with  the  Burgo- 
Master  trick 'd.  Tickets  to  be  had  at  Mr.  Shepheard's  in 
Broad-Street  at  40  s.  each.  To  begin  at  6  o 'Clock  pre- 
cisely. ' ' 

How  indispensable  a  knowledge  of  the  Italian 
farces  was  considered  by  French  wits  may  be  in- 
ferred from  a  quotation  in  the  Gazette  of  July  16, 
1750,^2  describing  a  man  ''of  Wit  and  Merit,  .  .  . 
who  has  Boileau  at  his  Fingers'  End,  who  knows 
something  of  Moliere,  and  some  Jests  taken  from 
the  Italian  Farces  of  Arlequin,  and  is  acquainted 
with  every  pretty  Story."  The  interest  in  French 
literature  and  French  ideals  could  hardly  be  plainer. 
In  another  instance,^^  we  find  satiric  French  verses 
on  the  heroism  of  Louis  XV  copied  into  the  Gazette, 
along  with  a  translation  into  English  doggerel. 
Examples  of  this  sort  could  be  multiplied. 

But  the  advertisements  of  books  for  sale  ''by  the 
printer  hereof  and  other  local  booksellers  would 
establish  the  French  influence  beyond  a  doubt,  if  we 
had  no  other  references  to  do  so.  Moliere 's  plays 
are  advertised  over  and  over  again,  French  books 
of  travel  are  common,  French  religious  manuals 
and  even  French  critical  works  like  Bossu's  Epic 
Poetry  are  well  known.  In  fact  a  bookseller's  gen- 
eral summary  of  his  literary  merchandise  was  likely 
to  take  the  form  of  "a  curious  collection  of  the  most 
modern  books  in  English  and  French.''^*  Fortu- 
nately for  us,  many  of  these  "curious  collections'' 
are  described  in  detail  in  the  Gazette,  so  that  in 

^  From  Memoirs  of  Literature,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  392. 

^No.  703,  October  5,  1747. 

3*  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  138,  September  18,  1736. 


THE  SOUTH  CAEOLINA  GAZETTE         251 

some  instances  we  know  the  very  edition  that  the 
bookseller  was  offering  for  sale.  And,  in  general, 
the  book  advertisements  in  the  South  Carolina 
weekly  afford  important  evidence  of  the  love  of  lit- 
erature in  the  colony. 

They  begin  with  the  first  issue  of  the  paper,  Jan- 
uary 8,  1731-32,  but  contain  nothing  of  literary 
value  for  several  months,  unless  the  seventh  edition 
of  Watts 's  version  of  the  Psalms  be  included  in  that 
category.  In  the  fifteenth  number,  however,  on 
April  15,  1732,  one  Edward  Wigg  advertises  a  fairly 
long  list  of  books  for  sale,  many  of  which  are  either 
literary  or  historical.  There  is  even  a  mention  of 
one  or  two  scientific  dictionaries ;  and  a  list  of  secu- 
lar books  for  sale  in  1732  is  noteworthy  in  any  case. 
Then,  too,  it  must  be  remembered  that  Wigg  was  not 
attempting  to  give  an  inventory  of  his  entire  stock, 
but  only  of  his  new  books,  ^'lately  imported  from 
Great  Britain,''  as  he  tells  us  in  his  advertisement. 
If  his  list  fails  to  include  Shakespere,  Milton,  Swift 
and  Addison,  it  is  probably  because  his  public  would 
assume  that  he  had  them.  He  was  not  publishing 
an  account  of  his  library  to  enhance  his  literary 
reputation,  as  was  the  Courant,  ten  years  before. 

We  shall  give  Wigg's  list  with  spelling  and  ar- 
rangement of  titles  unaltered. 

Gay's  Fables. 
System  of  Magich}^ 
Boyle's  Voyages.^^ 
Lindsey's  History  of  Scotland. 

^'  Probably  Defoe 's. 
^^  A  novel  by  Chetwood. 


252    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Millar's  History,  2  Voll. 

Bishop  Aylmer's  Life. 

Peeling  against  Whiston. 

Abelard's  Letters, 

Musical  Miscellany,  6  voll. 

Select  Novels,  6  v. 

Cambray's  Tales  and  Fables. 

Hales  Contemplations,  3  v. 

Halyburton's  Great  Concern, 

Art  of  fallowing  Land. 

Reading's  Life  of  Christ. 

Ditto  in  2  v. 

Droits  des  Soverains  2  v. 

Ramsey's  Poems  and  Songs. 

Pitcarn  Poemata. 

Needier 's  Works. 

King  Henry's  Life. 

Edwards's  Justification. 

Memoirs  of  Queen  Anne. 

Bradley's  Botanical  Dictionary,  2  v. 

Treatise  of  the  Art  of  Thinking. 

Kitchen  Gardner. 

Stone's  Mathematical  Directory. 

Bossu's  Epick  Poetry,  2  v. 

Law  concerning  Masters  and  Servants.  . 

Petit 's  Diseases  of  the  Bones. 

Deffeis  Geography. 

Pasehon'd  Translation  of  the  Abbots. 

Pinder's  Spanish  Grammer. 

With  Variety  of  Plays  and  Pamplets. 

A  ^'variety  of  plays'^  or  a  ^^ great  variety  of  plays" 
is  regularly  added  to  every  advertisement  of  books 
in  Charleston,  and  '^Select  novels"  also  occurs  fre- 
quently.    On  the  whole,  an  examination  of  Wigg's 


THE  SOUTH  CAROLINA  GAZETTE         253 

strange  assortment  of  theology,  gardening,  botany 
and  literature  shows  that  Charleston  had  a  reading 
class  of  remarkably  varied  interests. 

Before  the  close  of  1732,  Whitemarsh  had  added 
to  his  own  stock  of  religious  treatises  a  few  operas 
and  a  tragedy,  and  on  November  4  he  advertised 
the  whole  incongruous  collection  for  sale.  His  no- 
tice reads: 

To  be  Sold  by  the  Printer  hereof, 

Barclay's  Apology  for  the  Quakers. 

Watts 's  Psalms. 

The  Honour  of  the  Gout. 

Bowman's  Sermon. 

Beggar's  Opera. 

Village  Opera. 

Rohinhood's  Opera. 

The  fatal  Extravagant,  a  Tragedy. 

A  short  plain  Help  for  Parents,  and  Heads  of 

Families,  to  feed  their  Babes  with  the  sincere 

Milk  of  God's  Word. 
The  Nature  of  Riches. 

A  few  months  later^"  he  had  added  to  these  ''a  cu- 
rious Collection  of  Books,"  the  titles  of  which  he 
gives  as  follows : 

Tillotson's  Works,  in  3  Vol.  fol. 
Burchet's  Naval  History. 
Whitby  on  Isaiah. 
Dr.  Sam.  Clarke's  Sermons,  10  vol. 
Dan.  De  Foe's  Works,  2  vol. 
History  of  Tryals,  2  vol. 
Ogilby's  History  of  America. 
Memoirs  of  Kerr  of  Kersland,  2  Vol. 

^  March  10,  1732-33. 


254    LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL   NEWSPAPERS 

Spectators. 

Guardians. 

Mist's  Letters,  2  vol.'^ 

Plays,  etc. 

He  repeats  this  advertisement  on  March  24, 1732-33, 
with  the  addition  of  Moliere's  plays,  and  a  few  un- 
important memoirs  and  sermons.  Thenceforth  Mo- 
liere's  plays  regularly  appear  in  Whitemarsh's 
advertisement,  which  gradually  extends  to  a  long 
list  of  histories,  memoirs,  essays  and  Latin  classics. 
The  bookselling  thus  developing  in  the  same  way 
that  it  had  developed  in  Benjamin  Franklin's  Phila- 
delphia office  was  interrupted  by  Whitemarsh's 
death  in  the  summer  of  1733.  When  Louis  Timothee 
took  over  the  Gazette  on  February  2,  1733-34,  he 
seems  to  have  taken  none  of  Whitemarsh's  books. 
At  least  he  does  not  advertise  them,  and,  as  a  rule, 
the  book  notices  of  the  Timothys  show  an  interest- 
ing tendency  toward  colonial  publications — espe- 
cially Franklin's  publications  and  reprints.  Frank- 
lin was  supplying  the  capital  for  the  Charleston 
papers.  Naturally  he  would  send  down  books  and 
pamphlets  from  his  own  press,  on  the  chance  of 
increasing  their  circulation.  Never  was  a  more 
indefatigable  advertiser  than  Franklin.  Thus  we 
find  Poor  Richard's  Almanac  elaborately  described 
every  year  in  The  South  Carolina  Gazette.  The  six 
numbers  of  Franklin's  General  Magazine,  also,  had 
all  reached  Charleston  by  August,  1741,  and  are 
advertised  for  sale  ''by  The  Printer  hereof"  on 

^  There  were  two  series  of  two  volumes  each.  Defoe  probably 
edited  the  earlier  series  of  1721-22,  which  may  be  the  one  referred 
to  here. 


THE  SOUTH  CAKOLINA  GAZETTE         255 

August  15,  1741.  In  1746,  Elizabeth  Timotliy,  the 
widow  who  carried  on  the  business  for  several  years, 
has  an  advertisement  of  books  for  sale  at  her  house 
''next  the  Printing  Office. '^  This  advertisement  is 
repeated  at  intervals  throughout  the  year,  and  in- 
cludes the  following  books : 

Testaments. 

Confessions  of  Faith  with  Notes  at  large. 

Pamela  or  Virtue  Rewarded. 

Spelling  Books. 

Cato  on  Old  Age. 

Familiar  Instriictor.^^ 

Watts 's  Divine  Songs. 

Watts 's  Psalms  and  Hymns. 

Allen's  Alarm. 

Dr.  Armstrong's  Poems  on  Health. 

Reflections  on  Courtship  and  Marriage. 

Now  by  1746  Franklin  had  published  Pamela, 
Cato  on  Old  Age,  and  The  Family  Instructor.  It  is 
altogether  probable  that  the  appearance  of  just 
these  books  on  Mrs.  Timothy's  list  indicates  the  cir- 
culation of  Franklin's  Philadelphia  reprints  in 
Charleston.  Only  one  list  of  books  from  England 
for  sale  by  the  Timothys  deserves  quoting.  That 
we  find  in  an  advertisement  running  through  1744. 

Burnet's  History  of  his  own  Times,  6  vol. 
Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  with  Addison's  Notes. 
Addison's  Miscellaneous  Works,  2  vol. 
Prior's  Poems. 

Lord  Shaftesbury's  Characteristicks,  2  vol. 
And  Night  Thoughts,  a  Poem  by  the  famous  Dr. 
Young. 

""Probably  a  misprint  for  The  Family  Instructor  of  Defoe. 


256    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

But  other  booksellers  in  Charleston  were  active 
in  advertising,  though  here,  as  in  Philadelphia,  prob- 
ably none  of  them  kept  a  shop  for  the  exclusive  sale 
of  books.  In  fact  they  seem  to  have  sold  whatever 
happened  to  be  shipped  over.  For  instance,  it  would 
be  hard  to  put  Peter  Harry  into  any  narrow  classi- 
fication. His  advertisement  runs  through  Feb- 
ruary, 1733-34,  and  the  most  characteristic  items  in 
it  are  as  follows:  ''Lately  Imported  and  Sold  by 
Peter  Harry  in  his  Store  at  Mrs.  Eomsey's  on  the 
Bay,  fine  Bohea  tea,  .  .  .  Head  Flowers  in  Boxes, 
Laces  and  Edgings,  Psalm-hooks,  Play-hooks,  the 
Guardians  in  2  vol.,  Women's  Short  Cloaks,  Men's 
Scarlet  Great  Coats  ..."  and  so  on  through  long 
descriptions  of  gorgeous  apparel. 

Likewise  Crokatt  and  Seaman  must  have  kept 
something  like  a  department  store.  We  read  in  the 
Gazette  of  September  18,  1736:  ''Just  imported  in 
the  Billander  King  George,  and  to  be  sold  by  Crokatt 
and  Seaman,  .  .  .  great  variety  of  men's  and  boys' 
ready  made  cloaths,  a  curious  collection  of  the  most 
modern  books  in  English  and  French,  most  sorts  of 
English  and  India  silks,  laces  and  edgings,"  besides 
millinery  and  grocer's  supplies.  Addison's  Evi- 
dences of  Christianity  and  "sundry  other  books" 
come  over  in  the  Charming  Betty,  and  are  for  sale, 
as  we  read  in  the  advertisement  of  September  5, 
1741.  The  ship  Samuel,  from  London,  brings  over 
' '  sundry  goods,  particularly  a  very  choice  collection 
of  printed  Books,  Pictures,  Maps  and  Pickles,  to  be 
Sold  very  reasonable  by  Eobert  Pringle."*^     And  it 

*^  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  511,  January  9,  1744. 


THE    SOUTH    CAKOLINA    GAZETTE  257 

is  not  until  October  24,  1748,  that  we  find  anything 
like  an  advertisement  of  a  collection  worthy  the 
name.  John  Sinclair  at  length  has  "Several  Hun- 
dred Volumes  in  Keligion,  Law,  Physicks,  Mathe- 
maticks.  History,  Poetry,  Voyages,  Travels,  Plays, 
Novels,  Eomances  and  Musick,  a  Catalogue  of  which 
may  be  seen  with  the  lowest  Prices  affixed  thereto/' 

The  advertisements  for  books  lost  or  lent  show 
that  Carolinians  read  and  valued  good  literature  as 
keenly  as  did  Philadelphians.  The  volumes  of  Mil- 
ton, Addison,  and  Cato's  Letters  were  all  cherished 
possessions  in  Charleston  households,  and  the  loss 
of  them  was  felt  as  a  calamity.  Plays  of  all  sorts 
were  undoubtedly  more  popular  in  South  Carolina 
than  in  any  other  colony.  The  man  who  owned  the 
Spectator  and  the  Tatler  always  had  a  volume  of 
plays  on  the  same  shelf, — Lee,  Otwaj",  Phillips, 
Steele,  as  the  case  might  be.  Not  infrequently  he 
would  own  the  plays  of  all  of  them,^^  so  that  the 
drama  was  much  read,  as  well  as  acted.  Moliere 
and  Congreve  were  always  popular. 

Nothing  could  be  more  dramatic  than  the  entrance 
of  George  "Wliitefield  about  1740  into  the  life  and 
thought  of  such  a  society  as  that  of  Charleston.  The 
closing  couplet  of  the  epilogue  to  the  Orphan  might 
well  stand  as  a  fairly  adequate  indication  of  the 
spirit  of  the  place : 

Wise,  innocent,  serene,  she  smiles  at  Ease 
Nor  hanging  Witches,  nor  abjuring  Plays. 

According  to  most  modern  standards  this  is  the  nat- 

"  See  for  example  the  advertisement  in  the  Gazette,  No.  203,  De- 
cember 15,  1737. 

18 


258    LITERARY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

ural,  sane  attitude  of  cultivated  intelligence.  But 
although  Whitefield  took  no  part  in  witchcraft  trials, 
his  zealous  preaching  constantly  dwelt  on  the  total 
depravity  of  all  purely  natural  living.  Hence  the 
storm  of  conflicting  opinion  when  he  preached  in 
any  pulpit  that  he  could  find  in  Charleston.  Nomi- 
nally he  was  of  the  Church  of  England,  but  nowhere 
did  the  Church  offer  him  such  vigorous  resistance 
as  in  Charleston.  St.  Philip's  firmly  closed  its 
doors  against  his  uncanonical  services  and  his  ^^en- 
thusiastick  fits.''  The  Eector,  Alexander  Garden, 
Commissary  or  Bishop  of  South  Carolina,  was  the 
chief  means  of  bringing  Whitefield  to  ecclesiastical 
trial.  On  the  other  hand,  nowhere  in  the  colonies 
did  his  new-found  friends  in  other  religious  folds 
flock  so  enthusiastically  to  hear  him  or  to  defend 
him.  Charleston  was  divided  for  several  years  into 
two  sharply  contrasted  religious  parties. 

The  literary  influence  of  all  this  has  hitherto  es- 
caped attention.  What  more  natural  than  that  lead- 
ing exponents  of  each  side  should  send  their  views 
to  the  weekly  paper  ?  Wliat  more  natural  than  that 
these  views  should  be  colored  by  all  the  denuncia- 
tory literature  they  knew?  So  we  have  bitter  con- 
troversial essays  and  satiric  poems  almost  weekly 
through  1740,  and  less  often  from  1741  to  1745. 
Addison  was  completely  forgotten  during  these 
years  of  intense  feeling.  The  excited  combatants 
were  in  no  mood  for  polished  urbanity,  and  they 
hurled  the  bitterest  passages  from  the  Dunciad  and 
Hudibras  at  one  another,  with  the  change  of  a  word 


THE  SOUTH  CAEOLINA  GAZETTE         259 

now  and  then  to  make  the  meaning  plain.  Soon 
they  were  writing  Hudibrastic  couplets  themselves. 

A  long  paper  from  ^^Arminius'^  begins  the  holy 
war  for  the  Church  on  January  26,  1740,  and  con- 
tinues through  three  numbers  of  the  Gazette  before 
a  friend  of  Whitefield  replies  in  an  essay  ending 
with  Pope's  line  '^Dulness  is  sacred  in  a  sound  Di- 
vine.'' Who  Arminius  was,  we  do  not  know.  He 
was  certainly  a  member  of  St.  Philip's  parish,  how- 
ever, if  not  the  Keverend  Alexander  Garden  him- 
self. The  other  numerous  controversialists  signed 
themselves  C,  Z,  or  T,  or  were  entirely  anon}Tnous. 
At  first  they  all  preserved  at  least  a  semblance  of 
fair  play  in  the  argument,  which  centred  about  total 
depravity  and  other  doctrines  of  Whitefield.  But 
before  many  weeks  it  became  a  mere  contest  in 
abuse  and  ridicule, — a  mere  question  as  to  which 
side  should  hurl  the  worst  insults  from  the  Dunciad 
first.  Once  an  adherent  of  Whitefield  is  alluded  to 
as  ^'this  Yahoo.  ""^^  ^j^j  Whitefield  himself  is 
openly  compared  to  Ealpho.^^  Often  lines  from 
Hudibras  are  directly  quoted  to  point  the  compari- 
son, or  to  make  any  other  contemptuous  reference 
plainer. 

One  disputant  opens  his  essay  in  the  Gazette  of 
August  8,  1740,  with  an  elaborate  appreciation  of 
Hudibras.  ^^The  Characters  in  Hudibras,"  writes 
he,  *'will,  I  see,  forever  be  new  and  fashionable  in 
spite  of  Time  and  Ridicule;  like  old  Gold,  they  be- 

*^  In  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  395.     Postscript,  September 
19,  1741. 

*^Ibid.,  No.  337,  August  8,  1740,  and  No.  397,  October  3,  1741. 


260    LITEEAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

come  more  valuable  for  being  tried  by  Use  and  Ex- 
perience, they  have  stood  the  Test  of  Nature,  Time 
and    Truth.   .   .    .   And   how   Prophetically   is    the 

Learning  and  Eeligion  of  Mr.  W d  described  in 

the  Person  of  Ealpho. ' '  He  then  quotes  the  famous 
lines  on  the  New  Light,  by  way  of  ridiculing  White- 
field's  claim  to  special  inspiration. 

Naturally  the  original  poems  are  the  most  inter- 
esting to  us.  They  form  an  odd  collection  of  adula- 
tory couplets,  on  the  one  hand,  and  bitingly  satirical 
ones  on  the  other.  Prior's  verses  to  Sherlock  are 
slightly  changed  to  apply  to  Whitefield,  and  of 
course  his  enemies  promptly  insist  that  the  lines  are 
misapplied !  A  churchman,  over  the  signature  ^ '  C, " 
sends  an  original  Epilogue  on  the  late  Polemical 
Writings  on  Religion, ^^ — an  epilogue  which  proves 
to  be  no  epilogue  but  rather  a  fresh  prologue.  It  is 
written  in  excellent  Hudibrastic  couplets,  making 
mock  of  Wliitefield's  religion,  and  insinuating  that 
he  was  all  too  eager  for  contributions  in  support  of 
his  Orphan  House  in  Savannah. 

"His  Zeal   prefers   our   Penny   down." 

*^Z"  replies  to  ''C"  two  weeks  later^^  with  some 
original  verses  against  the  lax  believers  and  preach- 
ers of  the  Church.  These  lines  in  spite  of  their 
absurdity  represent  an  attempt  at  bold,  vigorous 
satire  that  is  well  worthy  of  notice.  ^^Z"  intro- 
duces his  verses  by  saying  that  ^^C's"  poem  of  two 
weeks  before  was  ^^a  very  Rhapsody  of  Inconsisten- 
cies, huddled  together  in  a  confus'd  senceless  Stile/' 

**  See  No.  326  of  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  Maj  24,  1740. 

"Ibid.,  No.  328,  June  7,  1740. 


THE    SOUTH    CAROLINA    GAZETTE  261 

and  reminds  Mr.  Timothy  that  ''as  this  World  is  a 
Stage,  and  one  Man  in  his  Turn  plays  many  Parts ; 
and  as  Mr.  T.  made  no  doubt  that  .  .  .  Mr.  C's  late 
elaborate  Piece  would  be  acceptable  to  most  of  your 
Headers,  so  I  doubt  not,  but  what  is  here  offer  'd,  will 
be  accepted  by  the  wiser  few  that  are  left."  Z's 
chance  quotation  from  the  speech  of  the  melancholy 
Jaques  can  hardly  be  taken  as  evidence  of  any  close 
acquaintance  with  ^5  You  Like  it,  though  such  ac- 
quaintance would  be  interesting  coupled  with  his 
theology.  Of  this  theology  we  get  a  fair  view  in  the 
poem,  which  follows  immediately  upon  his  brief 
introduction.  There  is  something  particularly  cheer- 
ful in  his  treatment  of  a  naturally  depressing  sub- 
ject.    We  quote  the  most  characteristic  lines: 

But  I  am  afraid  it  will  be  worse 
With  him  when  he  shall  hear  the  Curse 
Pronounc'd  against  the  Unbelievers, 
Then  it  will  be  Known  who  are  Deceivers, 
Those  who  preach  Original  Sin 
And  the  lost  State  that  we  are  in, 
And  do  maintain  that  one  and  all, 
Are  void  of  Grace  by  Adam's  Fall, 
Or  those  that  love  to  lol  in  Chaise, 
And  freely  think  that  Heaven's  Ways 
Are  wide  enough  that  they  in  Sin, 
May  whip  their  Horse  and  so  ride  in ! 
But  oh  that  such  wou'd  once  be  wise. 
And  learn  Eternal  Happiness  to  prize. 
And  escape  the  Terrors  of  the  Burning  Lake 
For  Christ  our  only  Saviour's  Sake. 

Whitefield  took  large  contributions  from  all  the 
colonies  for  his  orphanage  at  Savannah.     Church- 


262  LITERAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL.  NEWSPAPERS 

men  looked  askance  at  this  project,  hinting  broadly 
that  it  took  a  great  deal  of  money  to  support  a  few 
stray  orphans  in  a  wilderness.  Even  Benjamin 
Franklin,  a  warm  friend  of  Whitefield,  thought  the 
orphanage  should  have  been  more  centrally  loca- 
ted.^^  Whitefield 's  orphans,  and,  indeed,  the  people 
of  Savannah  in  general,  were  standing  jokes  in  The 
South  Carolina  Gazette,  And  they  were  often  the 
subject  of  satiric  verse.  For  instance,  in  the  Ga- 
zette of  November  12, 1744,  we  find  one  of  these  little 
poems  on  "Whitefield 's  ^  ^  Orphan-House, ' ' 

Whose  tuneful  Orphans  suit  the  gilded  Scheme 
Seated  at  Georgia  in  a  silken  Dream. 

From  all  that  we  have  been  able  to  learn  of  this  ex- 
cellent orphanage,  which  still  exists  at  Bethesda, 
just  outside  of  Savannah,  its  orphans  would  never 
at  any  time  feel  themselves  to  be  seated  in  a  silken 
dream. 

The  profound  impression  that  Whitefield  made  in 
Charleston  could  be  inferred  from  the  marked 
change  in  the  book  advertisements  of  the  Gazette 
after  1740.  Instead  of  comedies  and  tragedies  we 
find  ^'Mr.  Garden's  Sermons  and  Letters,  Dr.  Steb- 
bing's  Sermon  against  religious  Delusion,  .  .  .  Mr. 
Whitefield 's  Sermons,  Letters,  and  Journals,  Mr. 
Smith's  Sermons,  Mr.  Wesley's  Sermon  on  Free- 
Grace,  .  .  .  Wesley's  Hymns, "^^  and  again  '^To  be 
sold  by  the  Printer  hereof.  Two  Letters  from  the 

Eev.  Mr.  W d  to  one  of  his  Friends  in  London, 

One  of  which  vindicating  his  having  asserted,  that 

*^I.  e.,  in  Philadelphia. 

"  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  407,  December  12,  1741. 


THE    SOUTH    CAKOLINA    GAZETTE  263 

Archbishop  Tillotson  knew  no  more  of  Christianity 
than  Mahomet,  the  other  shewing  the  Fundamental 
Error  of  the  Book  entituled  The  Whole  Duty  of 
Man,  ...  A  Sermon  preach 'd  by  the  Eev.  Mr. 
W d  entituled  The  heinous  Sin  of  profmie  Curs- 
ing and  Sivearing/'"^^  Dancing  and  balls  in  the 
face  of  calamity  were  also  severely  condemned 
under  Whitefield's  influence.  Laicus  writes  an  es- 
say on  the  evils  of  this  frivolity,  prefaced  by  the 
quotation  from  Virgil,  ^'Monstrum  Horrendum!''^^ 
To  note  all  the  quotations  from  Pope,  Swift,  and 
Gay,  individually,  or  the  numerous  extracts  from 
Cato's  Letters  and  from  English  magazines,  would 
extend  the  present  chapter  unduly.  The  Charleston 
paper  was  somewhat  isolated,  and  kept  its  purely 
literary  ideals  longer  than  the  Northern  weeklies, 
some  of  which  had  become  newspapers  by  1740. 
Even  in  1750  The  South  Carolina  Gazette  was  pre- 
serving its  early  tradition,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
year,  on  December  31,  we  find  a  number  of  Samuel 
Johnson's  Rambler^'^  taken  entire  into  the  Gazette, 
Correspondents  of  the  Charleston  weekly,  through- 
out this  early  period,  refer  in  the  most  familiar  way 
to  the  characters  of  the  Tale  of  a  Tub  and  Gulliver's 
Travels.  ^^Your  Piece  of  Wit,  .  .  .  makes  me  im- 
agine you  are  either  a  Houyhnhnm  yourself,  (as  de- 
scribed by  Capt.  Gulliver)  or  understand  their  lan- 
guage," remarks  a  writer  in  a  facetious  dispute 
about  an  old  racehorse,^^  while  his  adversary  re- 
joins: 

"  Ibid.,  No.  341,  September  6,  1740. 

'•  Ibid.,  No.  308,  January  19,  1740. 

"*  The  Bambler  of  October  2,  1750,  on  Frugality. 

"^  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  530,  May  21,  1744. 


264    LITERAEY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

One  Fool  endeavours  to  describe  another 
Yahoo  proves  Houyhnhnm  is  his  Brother.^^ 

''Twickenham's  bard"  is  the  most  familiar  Eng- 
lish author  of  all,  not  excepting  even  Addison. 
Hardly  a  number  of  the  Gazette  is  without  a  quota- 
tion or  an  allusion,  and  poems  definitely  imitative 
abound.  In  fact,  Pope  is  invoked  as  one  invokes  a 
muse,  especially  when  a  noteworthy  character  or 
event  is  to  be  celebrated.  Philanthropos  sends  a 
Poem  to  the  Reverend  and  Learned  Doct.  Neal,  on 
his  excellent  Sermon  preached  at  Charleston  on 
Sunday  the  26th  of  May,  1734,  In  glowing  verses^^ 
he  exclaims: 

Had  I  a  Genius,  and  poetick  fire, 

Equal  to  that  which  did  bright  Pope  inspire 

My  chearful  Muse,  nay  rather,  all  the  Nine 
Should  in  one  loud  Chorus  of  Applauses  joyn, 
To  sing  thy  praise,  0  eloquent  Divine! 

When  Oglethorpe  returned  from  Georgia,  a  poem 
celebrating  his  exploit  appeared  in  the  Gazette,  in 
which  Pope  is  thus  invoked : 

Let  Twickenham 's  Bard  in  his  immortal  Lays 
Give  thee  the  humble  Tribute  of  our  Praise. 
No  brighter  Scene  his  Homer  could  display 
Than  that  in  thy  Adventures  we  survey.^* 

On  June  17,  1745,  just  after  Pope's  death,  we  find 
in  the  Charleston  paper,  ^^  Verses  sent  by  Phila- 

"  See  The  South  Carolina  Gazette,  No.  531,  May  28,  1744. 

'"Ibid.,  No.  19,  June  8,  1734. 

"  Ibid.,  No.  47,  December  21,  1734. 


THE  SOUTH  CAKOLINA  GAZETTE         265 

gathus,  written  extempore  by  a  Native  of  this  Place 
on  the  Death  of  the  great  and  celebrated  Alexander 
Pope,  Esq/'  These  verses  though  stilted  and  halt- 
ing reveal  an  extravagant  admiration  for  the  dead 
poet. 

To  examine  in  detail  the  frequent  extracts  from 
English  magazines  and  periodicals,  would  mean,  in 
large  part,  a  repetition  of  the  facts  noted  in  other 
chapters.  The  Universal  Spectator  with  its  com- 
bination of  serious  essay  and  dialogue  appears  very 
often  in  The  South  Carolina  Gazette.  Cato's  Let- 
ters were  inculcating  ideals  of  representative  gov- 
ernment that  would  eventually  bind  the  colonies 
together.  But  if  our  chief  emphasis  has  been  laid 
on  the  original  essays  and  poems  of  the  Gazette,  it 
is  because  they,  more  than  all  mere  extracts,  prove 
that  this  little  paper,  unmentioned  in  many  bibliog- 
raphies of  colonial  publications,  was  attempting 
literature. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  publications  have  been  found  useful  for 
general  reference. 


Adams,  Charles  Francis:  Milton^s  Impress  on  the  Pro- 
vincial Literature  of  New  England.  In  Proceedings 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Vol.  XLII, 
pp.   154-170.     Boston,   1909. 

Ayer,  M.  F.  :  Check-list  of  Boston  Newspapers,  1704-1780, 
with  bibliographical  notes  by  Albert  Matthews.  In 
Publications  of  the  Colonial  Society  of  Massachusetts, 
Vol.  IX.     Boston,  1907. 

Buckingham,  Joseph  T.  :     Personal  Memoirs  and  Recol- 
\  lections  of  editorial  Life.     2  vols.     Boston,  1852. 

Buckingham,  Joseph  T.  :  Specimens  of  Newspaper  Litera- 
ture.   Boston,  1850. 

Catalogue  of  Ante-Bevolutionary  Publications:  In  Trans- 
actions and  Collections  of  the  American  Antiquarian 
Society,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  309-666.     Albany,  1874. 

Dalcho,  Frederick  :  An  Historical  Account  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  in  South  Carolina.  Charles- 
ton, 1820. 

Ford,   Paul  Leicester:   Franklin  Bibliography.    Brook- 
lyn, 1889. 
\Franklin,    Benjamin:     Writings.     Ed.    Albert    Henry 
Smyth.     10  vols.     New  York,  1907. 

Goddard,  Delano  :  The  Press  and  Literature  of  the  Provin- 
cial Period.  Article  in  Memorial  History  of  Boston, 
Vol.  II,  Chap.  XV,  pp.  387-436.  Ed.  Justin  Winsor, 
Boston,  1881. 

266 


BIBLIOGKAPHY  267 

Green,  S.  A.:  Early  History  of  Printing  in  New  England. 
In  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 
Second  Series,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  240-254.     Boston,  1897. 

Green,  S.  A. :  Ten  Fac-Simile  Reproductions  relating  to 
New  England.     Boston,  1902. 

Green,  S.  A. :  Te7i  Fac-Simile  Reproductions,  relating  to 
Old  Boston  and  Neighborhood.     Boston,  1901. 

Green,  S.  A. :  Ten  Fac-Simile  Reproductions,  relating  to 
Varioiis  Subjects.     Boston,  1903. 

HiLDEBURN,  Charles  R.  :  Issues  of  the  Pennsylvania  Press, 
1685  to  1784.     Philadelphia,  1885. 

Hudson,  Frederic  :  Journalism  in  the  United  States  from 
1690-1872.     New  York,  1873. 

King,  William  L.  :  The  Newspaper  Press  of  Charleston, 
South  Carolina.     Charleston,  1872. 

Martin,  C.  M.  and  B.  E. :  The  New  York  Press  arid  its 
Makers  in  the  eighteenth  Century.  In  Historic  New 
York,  Vol.  II,  pp.  119-162.     New  York,  1899. 

Matthews,  Albert:  Bibliographical  Notes  to  a  Check-list 
of  Boston  Newspapers,  1704-1780.  In  Publications  of 
the  Colonial  Society  of  Massachusetts,  Vol.  IX.  Bos- 
ton, 1907. 

Nelson,  William  :  History  of  American  Newspapers.  In 
New  Jersey  Archives,  Vols.  XI,  XII,  and  XIX. 
Paterson,  1894.  This  valuable  history  is  incomplete, 
owing  to  loss  of  manuscripts  by  fire.  The  treatment 
of  the  press  of  various  states  is  alphabetical,  and,  in  the 
present  condition  of  the  work,  extends  only  from  Ala- 
bama to  New  Hampshire,  inclusive.  Thus  the  colonial 
newspapers  of  New  York,  Virginia  and  South  Carolina 
have  not  as  yet  been  treated  by  Mr.  Nelson. 

Rutherfurd,  Livingston:  Johri  Peter  Zenger,  His  Press, 
His  Trial,  and  A  Bibliography  of  Zenger  Imprints, 
New  York,  1904. 


268    LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Smyth,  Albert  Henry  :  Philadelphia  Magazines  and  their 
Contributors,  1741-1850.     Philadelphia,  1892. 

Thomas,  Isaiah  :  The  History  of  Printing  in  America.  In 
Transactions  and  Collections  of  the  American  Anti- 
quarian Society,  Vols.  V  and  VI.     Albany,  1874. 

TuTTLE,  Julius  Herbert:  The  Libraries  of  the  Mathers. 
In  Proceedings  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society, 
New  Series,  Vol.  XX,  pp.  269-356,  April,  1910.  Wor- 
cester, 1911. 

Two  Centuries  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  South  Caro- 
lina.    Ed.  H.  A.  Tupper.     Baltimore,  1889. 

Tyler,  Lyon  Gardiner:  Williamsburg,  the  old  Colonial 
Capital.     Richmond,  1907. 

WiNsoR,  Justin  :  Libraries  in  Boston.  Article  in  Mem.orial 
History  of  Boston,  Vol.  IV,  Chap.  II,  Part  II,  pp.  279- 
294.     Ed.  Justin  Winsor,  Boston,  1881. 

NEWSPAPEES  IN  THE  AMERICAN  COLONIES,  1704-1750 


The  following  list  is  not  a  complete  bibliography.  Only 
those  newspapers  mentioned  in  the  text,  or  of  special  im- 
portance from  the  literary  point  of  view,  will  be  noted. 
The  authoritative  bibliography  of  all  colonial  newspapers 
will  be  published  by  the  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
Meanwhile  the  following  list  may  be  useful  in  indicating 
where  files  of  the  original  papers  may  conveniently  be 
found.  Mr.  Nelson's  bibliography,  in  his  History  of 
American  Newspapers  (in  New  Jersey  Archives,  Vols.  XI, 
XII,  and  XIX)  has  not  as  yet  included  the  rare  files  of 
Southern  papers,  nor  the  New  York  papers  which  wiU  be 
noted  below. 

Chronological  List 

Puhlick  Occurrences,  both  Foreign  and  Domestich: 
Small   quarto    sheet,    one    page    blank.      Sup- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


269 


pressed  by  the  government  of  Massachusetts, 
for  containing  ''Keflexions  of  a  very  high  na- 
ture." Ed.  Benjamin  Harris,  Boston,  1690. 
The  only  extant  copy  is  in  the  State  Paper 
Office,  in  London.  But  reprints  may  be  found 
in  Hudson's  History  of  Journalism  in  the  United 
States,  p.  44,  in  The  New  England  Historical 
and  Genealogical  Register,  April,  1876,  and  in 
The  National  Intelligencer,  Washington,  1857. 
A  Fac-Simile  is  given  in  S.  A.  Green's  Ten  Fac- 
simile Reproductions  relating  to  old  Boston 
and  Neighborhood,  This  pamphlet  can  hardly 
be  considered  a  newspaper. 

The  Boston  Neivs-Letter:  Established  April  24, 
1704.  Files  in  the  possession  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society,  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  and  the  Boston  Public  Library.  Par- 
tial file  in  the  possession  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society. 

The  Boston  Gazette:  Established  December  21, 
1719.  Files  in  the  possession  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society,  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society,  and  the  Wisconsin  Historical 
Society. 

The  American  Weekly  Mercury:  Established  De- 
cember 22,  1719.  Files  in  the  possession  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  the  Eidgeway 
Library  of  Philadelphia,  the  Library  Company 
of  Philadelphia.  The  New  York  Public  Library 
has  a  fairly  complete  file  from  1733  to  1738,  and 
a  scattering  file  from  1738  to  1741.     The  Colo- 


270   LITERAKY  INFLUENCES  IN   COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

nial  Society  of  Pennsylvania  has  issued  reprints 
of  the  Mercury  from  1719  through  1723.  4  vols. 
Philadelphia,  1898-1907. 

The  Neiv  England  C  our  ant:  Established  August  7, 
1721.  The  only  extant  file  is  in  the  possession 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

The  New  York  Gazette:  Established  October  16, 
1725.  Incomplete  files  from  1725  to  1733  are  in 
the  possession  of  the  New  York  Public  Library, 
the  New  York  Historical  Society,  and  the  New 
York  Society  Library.  From  1733  to  1744,  the 
New  York  Public  Library  has  a  fairly  complete 
file,  the  British  Museum  and  the  Pennsylvania 
Historical  Society  have  the  best  files  for  cer- 
tain years,  and  the  New  York  Historical  So- 
ciety has  scattering  files.  For  full  details,  see 
the  excellent  bibliography  prepared  by  Mr.  Wil- 
berforce  Fames  of  the  New  York  Public  Li- 
brary, and  prefixed  to  the  volumes  of  The  New 
York  Gazette  in  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

The  New  England  Weekly  Journal:  Established 
March  20,  1727.  Files  in  the  possession  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  and  the  Bos- 
ton Athenaeum.  The  Boston  Public  Library 
and  the  New  York  Historical  Society  have  files 
for  1738.  The  American  Antiquarian  Society 
has  a  file  for  1739  and  1740. 

The  Maryland  Gazette:  Established  1727.  The  first 
extant  number  is  dated  December  10,  1728. 
Since  the  files  of  this  paper  are  scattered  and 

\ 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  271 

imperfect,  and  since  full  information  as  to 
where  they  may  be  found,  has  never  been  pub- 
lished, a  brief  summary  of  the  facts  may  be 
useful.  The  Maryland  Historical  Society  has  a 
file  from  December  10,  1728,  to  July  22,  1729, 
inclusive.  The  New  York  Public  Library  has 
two  numbers  of  1729,  ten  numbers  of  1730,  five 
numbers  of  1733,  and  nine  numbers  of  1734.  Of 
the  new  series,  begun  April  26,  1745,  the  Mary- 
land Historical  Society  has  an  incomplete  file 
from  1745  to  1760.  The  Library  of  Congress 
has  one  number  of  1746,  a  few  scattering  num- 
bers of  1752,  and  a  file,  nearly  complete  from 
1753  to  1755.  The  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  has  a  few  scattering  numbers,  ten  in  all, 
from  1748  to  1770. 

The  Universal  Instructor  in  all  Arts  and  Sciences, 
and  Pennsylvania  Gazette:  Established  De- 
cember 24,  1728.  Files  in  the  possession  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  and  the  Li- 
brary Company  of  Philadelphia. 

The  Pennsylvania  Gazette:  Established  October  2, 
1729.  Complete  files  in  the  possession  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  and  the  Li- 
brary Company  of  Philadelphia.  A  file,  nearly 
complete  from  1735  to  1795,  is  in  the  New  York 
Public  Library,  which  also  has  all  the  numbers 
of  1729  after  October  2,  the  date  of  Franklin's 
first  issue. 

The  Weekly  Rehearsal:  Established  September  27, 
1731.    Files  in  the  possession  of  the  American 

/ 


272    LITEKARY  INFLUENCES  IN  COLONIAL  NEWSPAPERS 

Antiquarian  Society  and  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society.  This  newspaper  was  published 
in  Boston,  by  Jeremiah  Gridley,  afterwards 
attorney  general  of  the  province  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay.  For  the  first  six  months,  somewhat 
ponderous  original  essays  appeared  weekly  in 
its  pages.  But  before  a  year  had  passed,  the 
essays  were  discontinued,  and  the  paper  be- 
came a  news-sheet  only. 

The  South  Carolina  Gazette:  Established  January 
8,  1732.  Complete  file,  from  1732  to  1801,  in 
the  possession  of  the  Charleston  Library  So- 
ciety. Two  numbers  of  1736  are  in  the  New 
York  Public  Library. 

The  New  York  Weekly  Journal:  Established  Novem- 
ber 5,  1733.  Best  file  in  the  possession  of  the 
New  York  Public  Library.  The  New  York 
Historical  Society  and  the  Pennsylvania  His- 
torical Society  have  scattering  files. 

The  Virginia  Gazette:  Established  August  6,  1736. 
First  extant  number  is  dated  September  10, 
1736.  File  from  1736  to  1740  in  the  possession 
of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society.  No  extant 
files  from  1740  to  1750.  From  1750  to  1752  the 
New  York  Public  Library  has  a  file.  After  this 
date,  scattering  numbers  are  to  be  found  in 
various  libraries  of  Virginia. 


INDEX 


Acknowledgments,  x 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  13,  25 

Adams,  Matthew,  34 

Addison,  5,  15,  23,  24,  26,  40,  41, 
42,  46,  49,  54,  59,  64,  79,  86, 
92,  95-96,  126,  128-32,  154, 
177,  224,  227-28,  235,  237-38, 
245,  257,  258,  264 

Addisonian  essay,  The,  4-5,  15, 
18,  22-23,  46-47,  48,  50,  87, 
101,  224 

Addison's  Cato,  5,  58,  223,  247-48 

Advertisement  of  Zoilus,  209 

Advertisements,  111-15,  147-49, 
169-71 

Afterwit,   Abigail,    16 

Afterwit,  Anthony,   77-78 

Aged  Creole,  The,  166-67 

Allegory,  157-58 

American  Magazine  and  Histori- 
cal Chronicle,  The,  174,  228 

American  Mercury,  see  Brad- 
ford's American  Mercury,  57- 
92 

American  Weekly  Mercury,  The, 
8nl 

Amoret,   Miss,   188,    195-96,    213 

Andromache,    223-24 

Anglo-Spanish    affairs,    140-43 

Antitype,    Timothy,    177-78 

Applehee*s  Journal,    23,   56 

Arminius,  259 

Arnold,  Matthew,  22 

Art  of  Incorrect  Writing,  The,  46 

Aspen,  Penelope,  238-39 

Ay    and   No,    220-21 

Bacon,  89,  92 
Baker,  Henry,  192 
Barbadoes   Gazette,   The.   74 
Bavius,  Mr.,  189,  203n52 
Bentlev,  Eichard,  203 
Berkeley,  Sir  William,  181,  183 
Bibliography,  266-68 
Bickerstaff,  Isaac.  62 
Bills  of  Credit.   169 


19 


273 


Bitterly,  Will,  44 

Blunt, 'Timothy,  43-44,   45 

Bluntly,  H.,  192 

Books,     Advertisements     of,     13, 

108,    111-15,    147-48,-  169-73, 

251-57,   262;    loaned  and   lost, 

118-20,    257 
Books  in  possession  of  The  Cou- 

rant,  20-22,  23 
Booksellers,  108-12 
Boston  Gazette,  The,  8nl,  10,  11, 

16,   28,   56,   85 
Boston      Gazette      and      WeeJdy 

Journal,  The,  56 
Boston    News-Letter,    The,    8-9, 

11,  14,  28.  34,  85-86,  121,  227 
Boulter.   Bishop,   156 
Boyle,  Kobert,  34 
Bradford,    Andrew,    85-92,    112/ 

118,  121,  128 
Bradford,  William,   121,   12^26, 

129-32,  137,  148 
Bradford 's     American     Mercury, 

57-92;  85-86,  89,91,97-98,99, 

120,  121,  150 
Bradford's    New    Yorlc    Gazette, 

see  New  York  Gazette 
Breintnal,    Joseph,    72,74-84,106 
Brimstone,     George,     Panegyriclc 

on  Beacon-Hill,   46 
British    Cato,     The,    see    Cato's 

Letters 
Brittanicus    to    Admiral    Vernon, 

143 
Brooker,  William,   10 
Browne,  Isaac.  107 
Buckingham,    Joseph    T.,    37nl3, 

39nl6,  40 
Bunyan,  John,  116-17 
Burnet,  Gilbert,  156 
Burnet,  Governor,  52,  54,  168-69 
Busy-Body    and    Spectator    com- 
pared, 67-71 
Busy-Body    essays.    The,    61-74, 

91,  153,  154,  212-13,  239 


274 


INDEX 


Butler's    Hudibras,    5,     134-35, 

196,  258-60 
Byles,  Mather,  24,  25,  29,  32,  36, 

37-39,  40,  45,  46,  47,  51,   53, 

211 
Byles 's  poems,  52-53 
Byrd,  Miss  Evelyn,  218 
Byrd,  William,  1, 106,  212,  216-18 

Cacoethes,  69-70 

Campbell,  Duncan,  66n26 

Campbell,  John,  9,  10,  14-15,  28 

Careless,  Bob,  241 

Careless,   Christopher,  44 

Carthagena,    141 

Cato  and  his  Genius,  223 

Cato  in  Busy-Body,  62,65,72,73 

Cato's  knock,  65n23,  72,  73 

Cato's  Letters,  59,  81-83,  89,  90, 

125,    126,    129,    137,    139,   159, 

257,  265 
Censor,  The,  66 
Chambers's  Universal  Dictionary, 

60,  93 
Champion,  The,  142-43 
Characters  in  Spectator  and  Cou- 

rant,  16 
Charleston,  242,  244-45,  246 
Chesterfield's  recall,  176-77 
Chronological  list  of  newspapers, 

268-72 
Church,  War  for  the,  259-62 
Cibber,  Colley,  107,  174-75 
City  laws  published,  140 
Clarendon,  Lord,  207 
Clarendon's   History   of   the   Be- 

hellion,  137-38 
Classical  names,  17 
Clodpate,  Justice  Nicholas,  16,  25 
Club  of  merry  ladies.  A,  190 
Clubs,  Spectator,  49 
Coin,    Petition    against    lowering 

the,  220 
Collection   of   Poems   by   Several 

Hands,  A,  31,  38-39,  53 
Collin's  library,  57-58 
Commode 's,  Miss,  game  of  piquet, 

198-99 
Common-Sense  on  The  Spectator, 

63;   139,  186 


Congreve,    207,    208,    211,    257; 

accident  to,  163-64 
Cooke,  John  Esten,  Virginia,  4 
Cosby,  Governor,  126,  131 
Coverley,  Sir  Eoger  de,  43 
Craftsman,  The,  141,  145, 186, 189 
Cretico,  62,  71,  72 
Criptonimus's  dream,  210-11 
Crokatt  and  Seaman,  256 

Danforth,  Judge,  36,  40 

Defoe,  21-22,  97 

Defoe's  Beligious  Courtship,  60, 

94,  109 
Deism,  159-62,  172 
Desires  of  men,  Eeasonable,  82-83 
Discovery,  The,  217 
Dodsley  's  Toy  Shop,  5,  222 
Dogood,  Silence,  26 
Dogood   papers.   The,   18,   26-27, 

29,  42,  57 
Downright,  Zachariah,  196-97 
Dream  literature,  157-58 
Dryden's  satires,  5,  207,  208,  211 
Duck,  Stephen,  Poems  of,  103-4, 

147 
Dumb  Doctor,  The,  66 
Dunton,  John,  35 

Education  of  Youth  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, The,  58-59 

Elegy  on  Old  Janus,  31,  32 

Emerald,  The,  41 

Emilia,  236,  237 

Envy  of  the  Great,  51-52 

Epilogue  to  Cato,  247-48;  to  the 
Orphan,  246,  257 

Essays,  Earliest  American,  154-55 

Essays,  Moral,  46-53,  100,  123-24 

Essays  reprinted  serially,  222 

Eugenius,  62,  64 

Euphemia,  188 

Evidence,  External,  18-20,  23 

Evidence,  Internal,  14-18 

Examiner,  The,  52 

Fables,  Popularity  of,  147, 155-56 
Fairy  tales,  Popularity  of,  155-56 
Faustus,  Dr.,  201 
Fiddle-faddle  Club,  The,  189,  190 


INDEX 


275 


Fidget,  Miss  Helena,  188,  193- 
94,  198-99,  212 

Fielding's  Champion,  142-4:4,  191 

Fitzhugh,  Col.  Henry,  179 

Flavia,  80 

Florio,  76,  79-80 

Flying  Post,  The,  8 

Fog's  Weeliy -Journal,  91 

Forecast,  Timothy,  202 

Foreign  news,  140-42 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  1,  2,  4,  6, 
14,  18,  19,  21-22,  25,  26-27,  32, 
34,  42,  57-66,  71,  74-78,  85, 
86,  87.  93,  94-96,  97-98,  100, 
103,  106,  108-9,  112,  114-17, 
119-20,  153,  159-60,  169,  227, 
230-31,  254-55 

Franklin,  James,  10-12,  14,  15, 
32,  33,  57 

Free  Briton,  The,  56 

French  influence,  250 

Friendly 's,  Ned,  letter  Of  News 
Writers,  189-90 

Frugal,  Betty,  16 

Garden,  Alexander,  258,  259 

Gay,  John,  234 

General  Magazine  and  Historical 

Chronicle,  The,  227,  228,  254 
Generous,  Will,   24i,  243 
Gentleman's  Magazine,   The,   56, 

90,  91,  144,  186,  210 
Goddard,  Delano,  The  Press  and 

Literature    of    the    Provincial 

Period,   llnll,   33-34,   41,   44- 

45,  110 
Gordon,  Thomas,  82 
Government,    the.     Criticism    of, 

125-27,  131,  138 
Government,      representative. 

Battle  over,  137-38 
Government,      Speculations      on, 

158-59 
Governors'  addresses,  4,  16 
Gravely,  Honorable  Charles,  43 
Green,  Bartholomew,  34,  35,  36,  37 
Green,  Dr.  S.  A.,  23 
Green,   Samuel,   34,  35 
Green,  Timothy,  35,  36,  53,  55 
Gridley,  Jeremiah,  7 
Grin,  Gorgon,  50 


Grubstreet,  Dick,  42,  43,  48 
Gruhstreet  Journal,  The,  144, 186, 

189,  203 
Guardian,  The,  11,  18,  22,  48,  49, 

50,  59,  81,  83,  224 
Gulliver's  Travels,  144-45 

Hamilton,  Andrew,  139 
Harlequin    and    Punch,    143-44, 

249 
Harry,  Peter,  Advertisement,  256 
Harvard,  John,  18-19 
Harvard     College     Catalogue    of 

1723,  23 
Harvard  poets  and  wits,  The,  31- 

32 
Haughty,  Dick,  241,  242-43 
Hell-Fire  Club,   The,   11,  14,  15, 

17,  22,  34 
Henroost,  Ichabod,  16-17 
Hill's,  Aaron,  Plain  Dealer,  153, 

154 
Hippo,  Ralph,  241,  242 
Honestus,   233,  235 
Honeycomb,  Will,  44 
Honeysuckle,  Mr.,  44,  45,  46 
Honoria,  237 
Hudson 's      Journalism     in     the 

United  States,  8nl,  37nl3,  41 
Hunter,  Colonel,  221 
Hyndshaw,  John,  111 
Hypercarpus,  17 
Hypercriticus,  17 

Idleness,  Octavus  on,  79 
Infidelity,  Marcus  on,  97-98 
Inoculation,  27,  28 
Instinct  of  Animals,  54 
Intelligencer,  The,  164,  190,  191, 

221 
Introduction,  1-7 
Irish  items,  219-22 
Irony,  Defoe's,  22 
Irony,  Franklin's  Defoe-like,  97- 

98,  99 

Jack,  Homespun,  16 
Jack-would-be-taller,  240,  241-42 
Janus,  Old,  17,  18 
Johnson's  Bamhler,  263 
Jones,  Eev.  Hugh,  182 
Junto,  The,  57,  74,  97,  98 


276 


INDEX 


Keiner,   Samuel,  22,  59,  60,  71- 

74,  84 
Kimbow,  Thomas,  64 
King  of  Clubs,  The,  49,  65 
Kneeland,  Samuel,  10,  32-33,34, 

35-36,  53,  55 

Ladies,  Censure  on  the,  192 
Latin  verses,  166,  216 
Laughing  Club,  The,  49-50 
Lee,  Samuel,  Library  of,  23-24 
Leer,  Penelope,  188,  197,  213 
Liberty,  89 
Libraries,  Private,  13-14,  23-24, 

106,  118-20,  132-33,  180 
Library    Company    of    Philadel- 
phia, The,  58,  75,  81,  119,  122; 
catalogue  of,  104-6 

Library  of  The  New  England 
Courant,  12,  20-22,  23,  26 

Lille's  The  London  Merchant,  55 

Literary  reprints,  5-6,  55-56,  60, 
90-91,  96,  122-23,  125-26, 
130-32,  141-45,  147,  149,  162, 
219,  222-23,  263-64 

Literature  in  the  American  colo- 
nies, 1-2,  6-7,  20,  24,  28,  41, 
45-46,  120,  149,  178,  212-13, 
226-29,  235,  251,  258,  265 

Littleton  to  Pope,  92n78 

Locke,  59 

Logan,  James,  117,  119 

London  Gazette,  The,  8 

London   Magazine,    The,    56,    90, 

107,  186,    189,    192,    193,   197, 
204,  221 

London  Merchant,  The,  55 
Love,  Dorothy,  16 
Lover,  The,  23 
Lucretia,  235 

Mackenzie,  40 
Man  of  Law's  Tale,  156-57 
Marcia,  76 
Marcus,  80,  97-98 
Marrying,    Petition    giving    rea- 
sons for  not,  76-77 
Marshall,  Henry,  32 
Martia,  231-32,  234 


Martyr  to  good  Housewifery,  The, 

51 
Maryland  Gazette,  The,  150-78 
Masons,     Society     of    Free    and 

Accepted,  163 
Mather,  Cotton,  24,  25,  28,  37, 104 
Mather  libraries,  24,  104-5 
Matilda,  76,  79-80 
Meanwell,  Mary,  Letter  of,  235- 

36 
Meddlers'  Club,  The,  239-43,  244 
Meridional  Club,  The,  80-81 
Milton  the  poet,   13,  23,  24,  25, 

59,  103-5,  178 
Milton's   Paradise   Lost,   13,   23, 

24,    25,    37,    53,    56,    104,   173, 

203,  257 
Mirror,  The,  40 

Mist's  Weekly  Journal,  17,  19,23 
Moliere,  249,  250,  254,  257 
Money,  Digging  for,  66-67 
Monitor,   The,   185-87,   189,   191, 

193-202,  205-15 
Monitor,  The,  Admonished,  204-5 
Monitor,  The,  to  Zoilus,  206 
Monitor's     Club,     The,     188-89, 

193-94 
Monitor's  life,  Story  of,  200-1 
Moor    of    Moore    Sail    and    the 

Dragon  of  Wantley,  19-20 
Morforeo,  225-26 
Mournful,  Fanny,  16 
Musgrave,  Philip,  10,  28 
Musquito   Indians,   141 
Mutiny,  A  bloody,  168 

Nahab  Din,  145,  146 

Nearsight,  Jack,  197-98 

New   Englamd   Courant,    The,   8- 

30;   not  literature,   27-28;    59, 

63,  150 
New    England    WeeTdy    Journal, 

The,  28-30,  31-56,  71, 150, 151, 

154 
New  York  Gazette,  The,  121-26, 

128-35,  138,  144,  148-49 
New  York  Gazette,  The,  and  The 

New     York     Weekly    Journal, 

The  war  between,   121-49 
New  York  Weekly  Journal,  The, 

124-35,  138-42,  144-49 


INDEX 


277 


News  letters,  168 

Newspaper,  The  weekly,  2-4,  6- 

7,  184 
Newspaper  material,  Sources  of, 

55-56 
Newspapers,  weekly,  Files  of,  ix, 

150-51,  187,  226,  238,  268-72 

Oglethorpe,  264 

Old  South  Church,  34,  36 

Otway's     Orphan,    184,     245-46, 

249,  257 
Over-wise,  The,  88 
Ovid's  Eemedy  of  Love,  227-28 

Parks,  Wmiam,  152-54,  164-65, 
169-73,  184,  187,  190,  193,  196, 
203,  213,  216,  222,  228 

Patience,  62,  64,  212 

Peaceable  on  the  Spunger,  146 

Pedant,  Will,  48 

Penn,  William,  122 

Permsylvania  Gazette,  The,  61, 
84,  93-120,  150,  229 

Penshallow,  Tom,  16 

Philadelphia  Academy,  The,  59 

Philanthropes,  17,  102 

Phillips's,  Ambrose,  Freethiiiker, 
153,  154,  156 

Phillis,  188 

Philo-Gunaicus,  223-24 

Philo-Musus,  17,  174-76 

Plagius,  26 

Pilgrim's  Progress,  13nl8 

Plain  Dealer,  The,  154,  155,  157- 
62 

Play,  First  recorded  notice  of  a, 
181 

Play,  A,  published  in  the  Jour- 
nal, 55 

Plays,  Acts  of,  reprinted,  222-23 

Plays  advertised,  252,  257 

Plays  in  Virginia,  183-84 

Plays  reprinted,  5 

** Poems  on  several  Occasions," 
213-16 

Poetry  see  Verse 

Political  editorials,  3-4 

Political  State,  The,  219-20 

Pomfret,  Eev.  John,  146-47 


Poor  Richard's  Almanac,  61,  77, 

100,  212,  254 
Pope,  38,  46,  47,  52,  59,  92,  103- 

4,  107,  134,  164,  174-75,   177, 

211,  264-65 
Pope's  Dunciad,  5 
Fortius,  97 
Porto  Bello,  141,  143 
Press,  Liberty  of  the,  138^0 
Prince,    Thomas,    13nl9,    24,    36, 

37,  39,  40,  45 
Pringle,  Robert,  256 
Prologue,  First  recorded,  183-84, 

245 
Prompter,  The,  222 
Proteus   Echo,   Esq.,   42,   44,  47, 

48-50,  154 
Proteus  Echo  Club,  42-45 
Proteus  Echo  essays,  46-53,  54 
Proteus  or  Old  Janus,  17-18,  31 
Prudent,  Amy,  76,  80-81 
Prussian  Edict,  Franklin's,  22 
Publications,  Colonial,  12 
PublicTc  Occurrences,  8nl 
Publicola,  234 
Pug,  the  monkey,  65 
Puns  and  ancient  jokes,  99-100 

Ralph,  James,  58 

Rattle,  232 

Read,  Charles,  118-19 

Beader,  The,  23 

Reddish,  Nicholas,  120 

Reprints,     Colonial,     of     English 

literature,  13 
Restraint  of  trade,  169 
Ridentius,  62,  64,  65n21 
Rogers,  Gamaliel,  37 
Rusticus,  Diogenes,  239-41,  243- 

44 
Rutherford,  Livingston,  139 

Saint  Patrick's  Day,  165 

Salem  witchcraft,  246 

Satire  in  Courant  and  Spectator, 

17-18,  25 
Saunders,  Bridget,  62 
Scribbling,  The  Itch  of,  69-70 
Sewall,  Samuel,  35 
Shaftesbury,  161-62 


278 


INDEX 


Shakespeare,    23,    42,    183,    201, 

245,  247 
Shakespeare,  A  1709,  at  Harvard, 

23 
Sheridan,  Dr.  Thomas,  164,  190, 

221 
Sidney,  Algernon,  59 
Sinclair,  John,  257 
Skelborn,  Sarah,  66 
Skellum,  142 

Sly,  Miss  Arabella,  188,  194,  212 
Sneer,  Jack,  50 
Snigger,  Tom,  240-41,  242 
''Society''  of  Proteus  Echo,  42- 

45 
South  Carolina  Gazette,  The,  222, 

230-65 
Spectator,  Mr.,  27,  76 
Spectator,  The,  5,  11,  15,  16,  17, 

19,  22,  23,   26-27,   29,  40,  41, 

42,  47,  48,  50,  52,  55,  59,  62, 

63,  64,  65,  71,  76,  78,  79,  87, 

88,  96,  100,  102,  124-25,   128, 

130-32,  154,  155,  223,  225,  232- 

37,   257 
Spectator,    The,   and    Busy-Body 

compared,  67-71 
Spectator  Club,  42,  44,  239 
Speculations,  41,  42,  54 
Spotswood,  Colonel,  90 
Stagg,  Charles  and  Mary,  182 
Steele,  15,  18,  40,  49,  56,  79,  126, 

132,  154,  224,  257 
Steevens,  Henry,  156 
Stingo,  Thomas,  124 
Stubbs,  George,  156 
Swift,  23,  59,   164,   190,  220-21, 

234 

Talkative,  Tabitha,  16 

Tattle,  Letitia,  187 

Tattler,  The,  40,  48,  49,  50,  52, 

62,    64,    65n22,    71,   72-73,   74, 

155,  197,  257 
Tea,  Petition  against  use  of,  77 
Tea-Table  and  appurtenances,  77- 

79 
Tell  Truth,  Tom,  224 
Temple,  Sir  William,  56,  227 
Tenderheart,  Caleb,  145 
Theater  in  Williamsburg,  182 


Theatrical    advertisements,    148- 

49,  248-50 
Theatrical  notice,  163 
Thomas,    Isaiah,    11,    36-37,    40, 

41,  46 
Thomson,  104 
Tiff-Club,  The,  65 
Tillotson,  Archbishop,  25,  59,  96 
Timoleon,  Plutarch's  Life  of,  83 
Timothee  or  Timothy,  Louis,  231, 

239,  244,  254 
Timothy,  Benjamin  Franklin,  231 
Timothy,  Elizabeth,  Book  adver- 
tisement of,  255 
Timothy,  Peter,  231 
Titan  Pleiades,  62 
Titter,  Titus,  50 
Tobacco  inspection,  225-26 
Tobacco,  Skits  on,  107-8' 
Toland,  238 

Touch-Truth,  Timothy,  225-26 
Tram,  Tom,  16 
Translations    from    the    classics, 

227 
Trenchard,  John,  82 
Turner,  Peter,  Advertisement  of, 

111 
Turnstone,  Timothy,  16,  25 
Tyler,  Lyon   Gardiner,  180,   181, 

196 
Type,  Tom,  177-78 

Universal   Instructor,   22,    59-61, 

71,  73,  84,  93 
Universal  Spectator,  The,  56,  186, 

192,  265 

Vernon,  Admiral,  141-43 

Verse,  103-4,  107-8, 134-36, 14&- 

47,     165-67,     217-18,     220-21, 

228^29,  264 
Vice  of  the  Bay,  The,  242-43 
Vinegar,    Hercules,    and    family, 

142,  191 
Virginia  Gazette,  The,  151,  155, 

179-229 
Visiting  the  sick.  On,  101 
Vita,  273 

Voters,  Advice  to,  81 
Vulcan's  dogs,  65 


INDEX 


279 


WeeTcly  Eegister,  The,  56,  90 

Wendell,  Barrett,  Literary  His- 
tory of  America,  27n47,  45 

West,  Richard,  156 

Whitefield,  George,  39,  257-63 

Whitefield's  Orphanage,  261-62 

Whitemarsh,  Thomas,  230-31, 233, 
237,  244,  254;  list  of  books, 
253-54 

Widowless,  Lucy,  76,  81 

Wigg,  Edward,  List  of  books, 
251-53 

William  and  Mary  College,  166, 
179,  182,  213,  216 

Winsor,  Justin,  Libraries  in  Bos- 
ton, 13nl9 


Winter  Evening  Tales,  156 
Winthrop,  Governor,  34 
Wisdom,  On,  101-2 
Woman   of   Fashion,   A,    187-88, 

191,  212 
Women,   Training  and   education 

of  55 

Zenger,  John  Peter,  124,  127, 
129-30,  132,  137-41,  144,  146- 
49 

Zenger 's  New  York  Weekly  Jour- 
nal, see  New  York  Weekly 
Journal 

Zoilus,  187,  202-9 


VITA 

Elizabeth  Christine  Cook  was  born  at  Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts,  July  29,  1876.  She  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  Northampton  High  School  in  1894, 
and  received  the  degree  of  A.B.  from  Smith  College 
in  1899.  She  was  a  graduate  student  at  Columbia 
University  in  1901-1902  and  took  the  degree  of 
A.M.  in  1902.  From  1903  to  1908  she  was  at  the  head 
of  the  English  department  in  the  Asbury  Park 
High  School,  Asbury  Park,  New  Jersey.  In  1909 
she  resumed  graduate  study  at  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, continuing  in  residence  until  1912.  From  1909 
to  1912  she  was  also  an  Assistant  in  English  at 
Barnard  College,  New  York. 


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